


A Game for Two

by ls_28



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Because Remus, Deceit is Meredith, Explicit Language, Fluff, Inspired by The Parent Trap (1998), M/M, Roman and Remus are cool brothers, The Parent Trap AU, some remus angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:53:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24096148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ls_28/pseuds/ls_28
Summary: “Don’t you see it? The resemblance between us?”“The resemblance?” Remus laughed, “You wish you looked as good as me!”“Oh believe me when I say, I don’t,” Roman scoffed, “With that ridiculous stubble? What fourteen year old has a stubble?”“I’m fifteen, which would be about as high as your IQ, I bet?”“Look here, you prepubescent Freddie Mercury wanna-be-,”“Ok, boys, break it up,” Joan got between Roman and Remus, trying their best to seperate the boys who looked like they would draw their swords again.“You wanna know the real difference between us?” Remus sneered.“Let me guess,” Roman played along, “I know how to fence and you don’t? Or I have class and you don’t? Take your pick.”Or; A Logicality The Parent Trap AU, where Roman and Remus are the separated twins trying to get their dads together, and Patton and Logan are great parents, but disaster gays.
Relationships: Background Remile - Relationship, Logic | Logan Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, background prinxiety
Comments: 109
Kudos: 154





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ahh, this idea has been a WIP for a while, and I'm still working on it, but I'm really excited to start posting. Logan and Patton as Nick and Elizabeth is just too good of an AU to not work on, and with Roman and Remus as the twins?
> 
> I don't own any characters, and this is a work of complete fiction.
> 
> Anywho, please enjoy the first chapter :)

Boys ran around with their duffel bags and suitcases, some trying to find their cabins and some getting their bags and belongings checked from the camp administrators. Remus meanwhile, struggled to pull his duffel bag from the mountain luggage in the middle of the pickup area, that grew in front of his eyes as the administrators dumped more bags.

“Oh, that’s it!” Remus exclaimed before diving nose first into the pile, aiming the bright green strap peeking out. He stuffed his face and shoulders between what felt like at least four different bags, and the weight above him just kept adding up.

Before he could yell for help, however, he felt a pair of hands grab his ankles and before he knew it, he was free from the dark abyss of luggage and standing straight under the afternoon sun. In front of him stood one of the camp administrators, looking both friendly and shocked.

“Did someone push you in there?” he asked worriedly.

“No, I jumped in!” Remus replied, giving his best toothy smile.

“Why?!” the man said, and Remus knew that tone.

He heard it every time he would try something he thought was interesting, before being disappointed when his teachers or friends didn’t understand. It's not his fault he’s curious about what would happen if he swallowed a glow-stick, he just wants to know.

Hearing the same tone from someone who looked so friendly made his smile disappear, “I just wanted my green bag, sir. It has my action figures in it.”

“Oh, dear, I’m sorry I snapped. Here let me help you,” the man said, and Remus smiled again. Maybe camp won’t be like school.

“The green one, you say?” he said before he firmly grabbed the strap and yanked the duffel bag in one swift motion. 

“Thanks, sir,” Remus said as he opened the bag to check his action figures. One scratch and he would burn every bag that was ever put on top of his.

“Oh, please, call me Thomas. All the kids do,” he smiled kindly again, “Any of your figures broken?”

“Oh boy, no. I would’ve screamed,” Remus zipped his bag and shouldered it.

“You know, I’ve got a pretty neat collection of action figures myself,” Thomas said, making Remus’ eyes wide and shine.

“Really? Can I see?” he asked hopefully.

“Sure thing! Let’s get you settled first,” Thomas said as he led Remus towards the cabins, “Now, I can tell you’re new here, so I don’t think you have many friends, is that right?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Remus said, trying to keep up.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll help you get settled. What’s your name?” Thomas asked and looked at his checklist in his right hand.

“Remus Warren.”

“Warren, Remus- Ah! You’re in the Navajos Cabin, nice place.”

As they neared the cabins with Remus trying to haul his duffel and suitcases, a long and sleek black car pulled up next to them, parking near the Head Cabin.

“Whoa! Who’s that?” Remus asked, knowing whoever was in it was either important or rich. Or both.

“Oh, some parents prefer to drop their kids directly to the camp instead of the bus that brings most of the children,” Thomas explained, “C’mon, your cabin’s right this way.”

* * *

As the driver parked the car next to the Head Cabin, Remy got out and took a deep breath, oddly smelling oranges.

“I smell oranges,” he said as he pulled out the small carry bag from the back seat.

“It’s probably from the orange juice cart we saw a second ago, Remy,” Roman said as he got out of the back seat himself and stretched his legs.

“Are you sure you want to stay here?” Remy asked as he hung the carry bag on Roman’s shoulder and asked the driver to open the trunk.

“Yes! It looks so scenic and charming!” Roman swung his arms excitedly and looked at the trees above him.

“Mmhmm, sure,” Remy mumbled as he took out Roman’s suitcase from the trunk and put it next to the boy who wouldn’t stop spinning around and looking at everything in a wide wonder.

“Now,” he said in a desperate attempt to get Roman’s attention, “Do you have everything? I don’t want to come back all the way from England just because you forgot your curling iron or hairbrush.”

“Don’t worry, Remy, I’ve got everything. Checked and double-checked,” Roman giggled.

“Seriously, though,” Remy said as he knelt down to get to Roman’s eye level, “If you want me to come back and fetch you and bring you home, you tell me, yes? I’m only a phone call away.” 

Roman smiled, “I will, don’t worry.”

“Have fun, my little prince.”

“I will,” Roman repeated and laughed.

“Oh! Almost forgot,” Remy said as he reached into his coat pocket, “I got you this,” he said and handed Roman a deck of playing cards.

“Brand new. Maybe you’ll find someone on this continent who can whip your bum at poker,” he smirked.

“Oh, I highly doubt that!” Roman said proudly, “Thank you so much, Remy”

Remy stood up, “Give me five, honey.”

Roman smiled as he shook Remy’s hand before piling his small hands on top his adult ones, sideways high-fiving him over his head and slapping their way down to near his torso, jumping twice on either side to give ‘tushy bumps’ and ending their special act with a conclusive handshake.

As Remy bid goodbye and sat back inside the black Mercedes, Roman knew how much he would miss his butler. Still, he was beyond excited to be spending eight weeks in a camp in America, and he couldn’t wait to get started.

* * *

The mess hall was bustling with boys dashing around the tables and talking to friends, old and new. Remus busied himself by scooping mashed potatoes on his already full plate and doused it mustard.

“Mustard on potatoes, Rem?!” Adrian, his cabin mate questioned bewildered.

“Trust me, it adds a wacky tang to it!” Remus said as he put the mustard aside and reached for the peaches.

“I see you’re getting settled in, Remus,” he heard Thomas’ voice behind him, who approached the lunch table and reached for the sandwiches on Remus’ left.

“Yeah! This is Adrian, we’re roomies!” Remus said excitedly, before following Adrian to their table.

“That’s great, kid,” Thomas continued, not noticing Remus walking away, “You’ll make some great friends this year.”

“I’m sorry?” Roman asked politely, who had just come in front of the line for some punch and heard the administrator talk.

“Oh! You’re here!,” Thomas said looking to his right, “I said you’re gonna make some great friends at camp. Nice hair clip,” he pointed to the butterfly pin in his hair.

“Oh-,” Roman said, still confused, “Thank you,” he smiled and walked away slowly.

“Strange kid,” Thomas mumbled lightheartedly and poured some punch for himself as well.

  
  


* * *

“Any more volunteers? Boys?” Joan, one of the administers asked, but got no response from the few boys standing in front of them in full gear.

“Alright then,” they announced, “The winner and still undefeated fencing champion, Mr. Remus Warren from Napa, California.”

The boys hooted and clapped as Remus held his sabre in the air triumphantly.

“Fencing?” he heard a voice, presumably British, behind him, “I’ll take a wack at it!”

“Ok, we have ourselves a volunteer,” Joan said as they noted their name down on their clipboard.

Remus' opponent approached him in full gear, small tufts of hair peeking out from under his masks.

“Fencer’s ready?”

“Ready,” both boys said, getting into stance, their swords touching.

“En garde! Fence!”

Immediately, Remus had to start backing up as the opponent kept advancing at him at lightning speed. He tried to shake him off by cornering him in front of a tree, but the other boy leaped into the air and took support of the tree, pushing himself off and standing in front of Remus, already defending himself and running towards the haystack to their left, in front of a cabin

Thinking he’s had him cornered again, and this time for good, Remus leaped forward and tried to aim for the other boy’s chest, “Touche!”

“Haha you wish, peasant!” the other boy said.

Remus advanced faster, and the boys ended up fencing on the entrance of the cabin. The other boy was relentless, and Remus ended up with his back to the cabin’s border railing, his guard down.

“Touche!” the other boy exclaimed and hit Remus with his sword. The impact made Remus lose his balance and he fell behind in a water trough, his trousers and shirt all wet.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” the other boy said, his accent thick and pretentious, “Let me help you,” he offered, his hand outstretched.

“No! Let me help you instead!” Remus said and pulled the other boy with him, and the two began splashing each other and screaming.

“Whoa, whoa! Break it up, people,” Joan came running towards them and helped them step out, both boys refusing to look at each other as they removed their masks.

“It seems we have a new champion, all the way from London, England, Mr. Roman Cicero,” Joan announced, “C’mon, boys shake hands.”

Reluctantly, the two turned to face each other, and then couldn’t stop looking.

Everyone around them gasped, but none were as loud as the ones Roman and Remus let out themselves.

Everyone could see it, and so could they.

Well, one of them could.

“What’re they all staring at?” Remus asked cockily, pretending to not feel the jolt he felt when he shook the boy’s - Roman’s - hand. 

“Don’t you see it? The resemblance between us?”

“The resemblance?” Remus laughed, “You wish you looked as good as me!”

“Oh believe me when I say, I don’t,” Roman scoffed, “With that ridiculous stubble? What fourteen year old has a stubble?”

“I’m fifteen, which would be about as high as your IQ, I bet?”

“Look here, you prepubescent Freddie Mercury wanna-be-,”

“Ok, boys, break it up,” Joan got between Roman and Remus, trying their best to seperate the boys who looked like they would draw their swords again. 

“You wanna know the  _ real _ difference between us?” Remus sneered.

“Let me guess,” Roman played along, “I know how to fence and you don’t? Or I have class and you don’t? Take your pick.”

Just as Roman smirked, Remus jumped at him and began wrestling him to the ground, both their uniforms brown with dirt.

Joan called Thomas to help them get the boys up and away from each other. Thomas grabbed Remus and pulled him off of Roman’s leg, meanwhile Joan lifted Roman and helped him to brush the mud off.

“That’s enough, you two. Now run along. And don't bother each other.”

Roman gave Remus the ‘I’m watching you’ hand gesture, to which came a much more aggressive hand gesture, the kind that Roman knew would make his father ‘lose his marbles’.

* * *

Roman picked up his shuffled cards in one hand and his winnings with the other, smirking at the weight in the latter hand.

“So, that’s all?” he asked looking around, and then laughed, “Well, these must be the easiest fifty pounds I’ve earned, I must say.”

“I’ll take a  _ wack _ at it,” came a voice from the small crowd of boys frowning at their allowances in Roman’s hand.

Roman looked up to see Remus, jiggling a bag which sounded like coins, and wearing the most ridiculous t-shirt Roman had ever seen.

“Are those eyeballs?” Roman asked, pointing at Remus’ shirt.

“Yep. Custom-made. Not the kind of balls I wanted, but oh well,” he replied and sat down on the bed in front of Roman, who couldn’t stop grimacing. 

Roman shuffled and distributed the cards amongst the two, and the crowd around them looked at the two identical boys, both their faces and fury indistinguishable. 

Soon, the money between grew, dollars and pounds were replaced by things like Roman’s hair clips and Remus’ keychains with offensive words.

“Let’s make this interesting,” Remus sniggered from behind his cards, his supporters behind him looking extremely glad at his cards.

Roman looked from behind his cards and raised his eyebrows.

“Loser gets to jump in the lake,” Remus continued.

Roman smirked, “Excellent”.

“Butt. Naked.”

_ ‘This was too easy,’ _ Roman thought and replied, “Even more excellent! Start unzipping, Warren.”

He put his cards in front of everyone on the mattress, “Straight. In diamonds.”

Roman put his hands on his thighs, satisfied to his core.

“You’re good, Cicero,” Remus said, sarcasm dripping with every word, which made Roman panic, “But you’re just not good enough.”

Roman’s heart sank. 

“In your honour, your highness, a royal flush,” Remus put his cards next to Roman’s, only his ranged from the King and Ace of spades.

The July night air was surprisingly cold as Roman walked on the small dock that led to the late, goosebumps forming on his bare body. He could hear boys behind him laugh, the noise sounded distant as he neared the edge of the dock. He took a deep breath and turned around to give Remus a small salute, who was holding a lantern that illuminated his smug looking face from below.

Another deep breath and Roman jumped in, the water much more colder than the air. Ten seconds later, he got back up from the lake and saw everyone scurrying away. He got out of the water, violently shivering as he neared the log where he had neatly folded his night clothes. 

“Oh! That stinky, slimy bastard!” he cursed when he saw Remus cackling and waving clothes in the air as he ran to his cabin. Revenge became imminent as Roman already began thinking of ways to make his now mortal enemy pay.

* * *

“I swear I saw your goody-goody clone painting his nails on the lunch table. Bright red!” Adrian laughed as the boys headed towards their cabin after a swim.

“Oh dear, I hate nail polish. You can’t chew on them if they’re painted,” Remus shuddered, thinking about it. He tried to paint his nails last year, and they looked nice and green. But he can never forget the bitter, stinging taste the product left in his mouth.

He was almost craving it now.

“I’ll take your word for it, man,” Adrian said before he stopped in his tracks, “Oh. My. God.”

Remus looked in the direction his friend was gawking at, and said the same thing. Well, not the same. He may have slipped some words his housekeeper would’ve scolded him for using. 

But they fit the situation, because all his clothes and shoes were hung from the front of their cabins with the Union Flag pinned to the door. 

“That Disney-singing ballerina did this! What the actual fu-”

“Whoa, Rem, cool it,” Adrian said, clearly out of his initial shock, “This is the perfect excuse to get back at him.”

Remus liked that idea.

“Didn’t you mention some stink bombs when we first unpacked?”

Remus loved that idea.

* * *

“Carlos, would you be a dear and hand me my hairbrush?” Roman said, pinning his hair to the side, wanting to go for a side swept look for archery. He already could imagine the wind blowing in his face and making his hair flow and dance with the breeze. 

“Which one?!” Carlos said, bewildered at the three different hair brushes on Roman’s bed.

“The blue one, with the-”

“BOMBS AWAY, LOSERS!” 

Roman barely had time to turn around to look at his doppelganger before the entire cabin was full of grey and brown smoke before the smell settled it. Roman had never hated his nostrils before, in fact, he has quite lovely nostrils. But the smoke made him want to stitch them up and not smell another thing for the next fifty years. 

He blindly ran across the cabin, his arms outstretched looking for the doorknob. His eyes, still burning and itching from the stink bomb smoke, welcome the afternoon sun. 

But he couldn’t appreciate it any longer, because he saw Remus spray painting his windows, cackling and screaming, “VENGEANCE, BITCHES”.

“You demented bastard! What is wrong with you?!” he screamed, and the moment he saw the green penises spray painted on the glass, he shouted louder, “ARE YOU CRAZY?”

“What is going on here?!” 

Both boys were startled as they saw Thomas walking towards them, trying to gauge the scene in front of him. Remus hid a spray can behind his back and pointed at Roman, “He started it! He hung all my clothes outside and then-”

“You took away MY clothes when I jumped in the lake!”

“The what?” Thomas said before his attention shifted to the windows behind Remus, “Are those what I think they are?”

“Dicks. To better match the people inside the cabin.”

“You crooked nosed knave!” Roman said and jumped at Remus, wrestling him for the second time in two weeks.

“Oh god, JOAN! I NEED YOU HERE!” Thomas shouted as he tried to separate the boys, all the while trying to not breathe the rancid smell that was not escaping the cabins.

Joan came running to help Thomas, each administrator gripping one hyper-active teenager, and both of them thought the same thing.

The Isolation Cabin.

  
* * *

“I am not spending the remaining six weeks of camp trapped with this gargoyle inside that rickety grandma cottage,” Roman shrieked.

“It’ll be better than your past thirteen years, trust me,” Remus said as he chewed his gum loudly and pushed his sunglasses up his nose, “And it looks cozy. Like Cabin in the Woods.”

“I’m fifteen,” Roman corrected annoyingly and turned to Thomas and Joan behind him, “This psycho will kill me and feed my remains to the wolves and not even my memory would last.”

“Relax,” Thomas said, “This is for character building. Who knows? Maybe you’ll find something in common.”

“You mean other than our mutual disdain of each other’s faces?” Remus chuckled.

“You literally have the same faces,” Joan sighed, “Now go on, get settled.” 

* * *

As it turns out, sharing a cabin with Remus wasn’t as bad as Roman thought it would be.

It was worse.

He had insisted that they divide the cabin in two, and that they keep to their sides, to which Remus gratefully agreed.

After three days, Roman learnt that Remus, however, would frequently cross the line. Both literally and figuratively. 

“Can you please, just please, pick up your socks from my side of the room? I’m pretty sure that at this point, my grandchildren can smell them,” Roman begged as he straightened his bed sheet neatly. 

“Any girl pregnant with your grandchildren has my sympathies,” Remus commented as he picked up his cursed footwear and carelessly tossed it to his trunk in the opposite corner.

That genuinely made Roman laugh, “Mine as well,” He giggled, “I’m gay, Remus.”

“Oh,” Remus said, looking behind Roman to the droplets of rain hitting the glass window.

“Is that a problem?” Roman asked, getting defensive.

“Oh no! Not at all,” he said looking back at Roman, sounded sincere, and put a hand on his chest, “I’m bi myself. I’ve also been told I have a small attention span and got distracted.”

Roman nodded and smiled, not at all surprised by the last sentence.

“Whatcha doin’?” Remus asked, peeking over Roman’s shoulder to see him sorting a few pictures of his family.

“Just organizing some belongings,” Roman replied, to which Remus hummed as an acknowledgment.

A branch suddenly hit the window next to Roman’s bed, which made both startle in surprise. But the change in weather seemed to excite Remus who exclaimed that he wanted to open the window next to  _ his _ bed.

“Oh ok, let me just put these away,” Roman said and he tucked the pictures in a small box and put the box in the drawer of his nightstand.

Remus waited until Roman shut the drawer, and immediately rushed to his bed and hopped up with his shoes on to open the window. The breeze, however, was a gust and the strong, wet wind filled the small cabin and made everything that was paper or cloth move with the air pressure.

Remus used both his hands to try and shut the window, and tried harder when his action figures fell to the wooden floor because the wind grew stronger. Roman too rushed to help him because he could see Remus couldn’t shut the window by himself.

He got next to Remus and both boys grunted as they pulled the glass pane shut, taking a breath of relief when everything in the cabin stopped flying.

Remus quickly hopped off the bed and rushed to his action figures scattered on the floor.

“This camp is an unlucky place for my babies,” he said as he brushed the head of one of his figures. 

“Any of them damaged?” Roman asked. 

“Only the gorgeous Kakashi,” Remus said solemnly as he held up a figure with spiky, white hair, a mask covering the bottom half of his face and a fresh scratch across his jacket. 

Roman didn’t know what he was talking about.

“Who?”

“Kakashi?” Remus repeated, “From Naruto?”

Roman shook his head and joined Remus on the floor and crossed his legs.

“Do you not have anime in London?” Remus asked, horrified.

“I don’t really watch it,” Roman said, giving his ‘oh-well’ face.

Remus got up and put the figures on his bed and took out a packet of biscuits from the trunk on the bottom end of the bed.

“You hungry?” he offered.

“Oh, I’d love to, thanks,” Roman said and settled on the edge of the bed as Remus sat on the floor.

Roman took a biscuit and started to nibble on it and Remus put one in his mouth, whole, and stretched across the floor to reach his trunk.

“By any chance, you wouldn’t have any-”

“You want jam?” Remus asked, clearly not knowing that Roman was about to ask for the same thing.

“You have Crofter’s in America?” Roman asked excitedly and dipped his biscuit in the jam.

“I should hope so, otherwise my dad would force us to leave the country,” Remus chuckled, jam lining his lips.

At this point, Remus’ antics wouldn’t bother Roman. Now he either grew accustomed to the boy’s wacky comments and actions, or realised that he doesn’t mean any harm when he talks about what the word ‘dork’ means. Maybe it was both.

“Your father loves Crofter’s?” he asked, wanting to carry the conversation.

“He would invent a new word to define his feelings towards this jam, because ‘love’ isn’t enough,” he said with his mouth full and both laughed, “What’s your dad like?” he asked.

Roman smiled, missing his father, “Papa owns a bakery. One of the best, and most popular in the city,” he said proudly, “He mainly bakes wedding cakes. Loves to design and bake them.”

“Oh, that’s cool!” Remus exclaimed, “And your mom?”

“Oh, I don’t have a mother. My father adopted me,” Roman explained, “Also, he’s gay.”

“Hey same!” Remus shouted.

“I thought you said you’re bisexual.”

“I am! I’m also adopted!” Remus clarified, and Roman’s world started to spin as the wheels in his head started to turn, “Dad was married before they adopted me, but they divorced when I was a baby. He doesn’t really like talking about him. He was just as nerdy as Dad, though” he laughed.

“How do you know that?” Roman asked.

“Oh, I stole a picture of him from Dad’s bookshelf. He found out, but he let me keep it. More cookies?”

Roman brushed off his offer “Remus,” Roman said, slowly, “When is your birthday?”

“I’ll be sixteen on October 19th,” he replied, to which Roman could only say one thing:

“Sweet Odin’s saggy testicles”

“What’s wrong?” Remus said, still stuffing his face with jam and biscuits.

“My birthday is on the same day…” Roman said, more to himself than his company.

“Do you have any soda?” said company asked, clearly unaware of the kind of stress Roman was under.

Which is why he snapped.

“Oh god, how can you think of your stomach at a time like this? Don’t you realize what is happening?!” he shouted and got up to pace the cabin. He always thinks better when he’s pacing.

“Think about it! Both our fathers are gay. Both of them were married before either of us were adopted. Divorced when we were still infants. Neither of us have met their ex-husbands, only have a picture. Well, you have a ‘picture’. I just have part of a photograph, ripped right down the middle and crinkled and-” 

He turned to see Remus kneeling in front of his trunk.

“If i see one more packet of biscuits, I will lose it,” Roman warned, but shut his mouth when Remus turned around, clutching a ripped photograph, its blank, white back facing Roman, who could only gawk.

“Is that ripped?” he asked.

“Right down the middle,” Remus said, his voice shaky.

Roman wasted no time to go to his nightstand and take out the box he was organizing earlier. Ten minutes ago, when times were simpler.

“Come here, please,” he said, and Remus walked to Roman’s bed.

“This is fucking freaky,” was all Remus could say as Roman took out a photograph, similarly ripped as the one Remus was holding.

“On the count of three, ok?” Roman said.

Remus nodded.

“1”

They put the pictures on the bed, upside down.

“2” 

They held a wrinkled corner of their respective pictures.

“3”

Each boy saw their father, and a man next to him, both men looking at each other, undoubtedly in love.

“That’s my Dad!”

“That’s Papa…”

Remus pointed to Roman’s father, “That’s the nerd I was talking about,” he laughed and wiped a tear.

“They’re both nerds, Remus,” Roman laughed wetly as well.

“So like, we’re brothers. We’re brothers, Roman,” Remus cackled and raised his arms, “I have a brother!”

“I have a twin!” Roman shouted back and raised his own arms, fist pumping the air.

Remus laughed louder and shouted, “We’re twins!” as if he just realised it. 

Both boys tackled each other to the ground for the third time since camp started, but this time they laughed and hugged and whooped louder in their empty, isolated little cabin, finally relieved of the fact that they weren't alone anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

Remus sat down at his lunch table, his plate full of mac & cheese pasta topped with barbeque sauce, and saw Adrian, his old cabin mate, talking with some other boys. He wouldn’t be lying if he said he didn’t miss his company, but Remus hadn’t really spent any time with Adrian ever since he moved to Isolation with Roman about a week ago.

So it was understandable.

Still, Adrian gave a little smile and wave from three tables down, which Remus reciprocated and made him feel really nice.

Normally, whenever he lost a friend before; whether it was because they didn’t like the kind of questions he asked or the kind of comments he made, or because he was ‘scary’ for them; it still made Remus really sad and lonely. 

This time, however, he gained a friend before he grew distant from one.

Roman slid into the chair opposite to Remus’ and immediately picked out the steamed broccoli from his side salad and put them in Remus’ plate.

“Here, I hate them,” he said as he put the last piece in Remus’ plate.

“Why? They’re so great!” Remus said, already scarfing the vegetable down. 

“No, they’re an abomination to the culinary industry and I refuse to eat them”.

Remus paid no attention as he nibbled on his extra broccoli, “I’m a giant eating tiny trees.”

Roman cackled loudly, the comment making him laugh surprisingly loud. 

“Ok, what does Dad do, exactly?” Roman asked, eating his now broccoli free salad, “You mentioned astronomy earlier.”

“Yeah, Dad’s an astronomer,” Remus said, “He teaches astronomy at Napa Valley College and sometimes likes to stargaze at this park, Sugarloaf Ridge, and I go with him sometimes.”

“Sounds boring, to be honest,” Roman said.

“Oh no, I thought the same at first,” Remus explained, “But it’s so cool. Especially the observatory.”

“If you say so”

“Papa’s a baker?” Remus asked, dying to know more about his other father.

“Yeah,” Roman smiled, “And he’s really good too. People love his wedding cakes.”

“What’s his name?” Remus asked, and Roman realized he had no idea what his Dad’s name was either.

“Patton Cicero,” Roman said before he asked the same question.

“What’s Dad’s name?”

Remus, instead, smiled widely and held up a finger, “Wait right here, you’re gonna love this,” his small whisker-like moustache tickling with excitement.

Roman saw him run out the mess hall and ask a very confused camp administrator for the keys to the buggy next to them.

His confusion only grew when he saw his twin brother drive the buggy at the highest speed in the direction of their cabin, isolated from the other cabins, true to its name.

Seven minutes and a salad bowl later, Roman was sitting opposite to a frazzled Remus, still smiling maniacally.

Slowly, Remus took out a bottle of Crofter’s from his pocket and put it on the table between their plates.

“Pregnant cravings?” Roman asked.

“No, you asked for Dad’s name,” Remus said, pointing at the bottle.

Roman gasped, “Our Dad is Crofter?!”

“No!” Remus laughed, and picked up the bottle and turned the label sticker to face Roman, “Dad is a popular teacher and researcher, and he taught physics to the owner’s son. When he went back to Germany, he told his folks about Dad’s ‘addiction’ and,” he pointed at the flavour name, “They named a flavour after him.”

“Oh dear sweet mother of chicken, my Dad is LoganBerry,” Roman said and snatched the bottle straight from Remus’ hands, gazing at the sticker label and the bespectacled cartoon depiction of his Dad.

“Logan Warren, actually, but yes!” Remus squealed, matching Roman’s excitement. 

The rest of their lunch was spent sharing a bottle of LoganBerry jam while Roman begged Remus to stop asking him  _ ‘How does Dad taste?” _

* * *

The trees surrounding their quaint cabin were full of owls and crickets, their hooting and chirping overlapping the conversation the new-found brothers were trying to have. They had joined the two beds that were previously at opposite ends of the cabin, and now they were facing each other, sharing stories about their parents.

“So Papa hates spiders?” Remus laughed.

“Deathly afraid of them,” Roman said.

“I have a tarantula at home, probably won’t help,” Remus said as he held up his hand, “Bigger than my hand now.”

“Yeah well, it’s not like he’s seen your spider,” Roman said and pulled the soft comforter up to his chest and snuggled his face into the pillow.

He would’ve fallen asleep almost immediately had Remus not gasped loudly and sat up from where he was lying, frantically reaching for the light switch and making the yellow light of the bulb pierce Roman’s eyes.

“What the everloving heck, Remus,” he groaned and rubbed his eyes as he tried to sit up next to his obviously deranged brother.

“You need to learn how to say ‘fuck’, honestly,” Remus said, “Now listen up, I have a plan.”

“A plan of what?”

“You want to know what Dad is like, right?” Remus smirked when Roman nodded slowly, “And I really really want to know Papa. So, I think we should switch places!”

Roman blinked twice, and then once more for good measure, “Switch places? You and I?” 

“Yes! It could work!,” Remus screeched, “Look at us, we’re twins!”

“Remus,” Roman began slowly, “That is about the only thing identical about us. We are completely different.”

“Roman,” Remus matched his brother’s speed mockingly, “We still have about five weeks left here. I’ll teach you to be me and you teach me to be you!”

Roman, however, was thinking on other, more long-term grounds, “Truth is, if we switch, sooner or later, they’ll HAVE to unswitch us!”

“Yes! And then they can lock tongues and we can be a proper family again!”

“Why’d you have to say it like that?” Roman groaned.

“Hey, it’s the truth,” Remus shrugged, to which Roman had no choice but to agree. 

“So, you go to London as me? And I go to California?” Roman asked as he laid back down in bed.

“Yeah, basically,” Remus said, also lying down, “Training starts tomorrow”

* * *

The plan was to first familiarize with each other’s house and family members, move on to practice each other’s accents and mannerisms, and then finally, make the necessary physical changes. 

So far, it was going well, and both boys sat across from each other on the small coffee table in their cabin.

“Ok, this is Dad, which you know of course, but it’s a better picture than the one we share,” Remus said and put a picture of their father between them on the table, his black-rimmed glasses sitting in the middle of his nose and he looked like he was bent over and concentrating on something extremely important.

“He didn’t know you were taking his picture?” Roman asked, noticing that he wasn’t facing the camera.

“Nah, he doesn’t like getting his picture taken, he doesn’t know I took this,” Remus gave his ‘I’m-so-sneaky’ smile, “I just wanted a picture of him before I left for camp”.

He put a few more pictures in front of Roman, all of the different people.

“This is Emile, our cook,” he pointed at the picture of a young man, with a soft freckled face and a kind smile, “He was my nanny when I was a baby. Man-nanny. Manny?”

Roman giggled seeing his brother trying to find the proper word, “He looks nice,” he commented.

That effectively distracted Remus’ ‘Manny’ dilemma, “Oh, he’s the best!”.

Next he pointed to the second picture of a boy, looking close to their age, with purple coloured hair and dark, brooding eyes.

“This is Virgil, Emile’s nephew. He lives with us,” Remus said, “He lost his parents when he was young so Emile took him in and - Are you ok?”

Roman, as it turns out, was not ok, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, it's just - he’s gorgeous,” he said as he stared at Virgil’s picture on the tabletop.

His reverie was broken when Remus started cackling loudly, “Oh god! You like Virgil?!”

When Roman started to stammer and failed to answer properly, Remus laughed louder and fall over his rickety wooden chair.

“I don’t see what’s so funny?!” Roman managed to say.

“It’s not, it’s cute!” Remus laughed louder.

“Uh-huh, sure,” Roman made sure he sounded as unconvinced as possible.

“No, seriously, it’s cute,” Remus said as he got up from the ground and wiped a tear, “I would say he’d like you back, but I honestly don’t know.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’d have to know him to understand,” Remus explained, “He doesn’t have a type.”

“But his type is the male population, is it not?” Roman asked, silently praying for the answer he wanted to hear.

“Oh yeah, definitely. Not a single straight in our house,” Remus said, “But enough about Virgil. How many people will be seeing in London?” Remus bounced in his seat.

“Well, mainly it’s just Papa and Remy, our butler,” Roman said, taking two pictures of his father and butler.

“We have a butler? Like Batman?!” Remus exclaimed.

“Whoa bro! Remy hates being compared to Alfred. Says he could never be as worthy as Alfred Pennyworth,” Roman warned.

Remus decided that Remy was his favourite person ever.

The afternoon went by in a frenzy of learning names, nicknames, and Roman’s crushing over Virgil, and soon they were ready to move on to the phase: learning each other's mannerisms.

* * *

For Roman, learning an American accent was easy, and teaching an English accent was even easier. As it turns out, Remus was great at impressions.

The hardest part came next: The handshake.

When Roman told his twin that Remy and he have a secret, special handshake, he just said that makes Remy the coolest butler alive.

Now, as they practice on the dock of the lake, Roman is sure that if he corrected Remus on his ‘tushy bump’, he would skin both him and Remy alive. 

“I’m trying! I’m trying!” Remus wailed as he tried to memorize the triple hand-clap.

“I understand, you’re doing good,’ Roman reassured his struggling brother.

“Oh, don’t give me that shit,” Remus rolled his eyes, “Now is it twice up and then slap your way down?”

“Thrice up…,” Roman corrected, immediately regretting his decision. 

“DAMMIT!” Remus kicked a rock into the lake, the small splash doing little to cover Roman’s subtle laugh.

“C’mon, you just need to practice”.   
  


It took them all afternoon, and as the sun set over the lake, Remus managed to slap Roman’s hand twice over and then turn to his side instead of the other way around, and by the end of the evening, Roman felt like Remy was with him on the lake’s dock.

“Great!” Roman said, wiping the sweat from his forehead, “Now just imagine this, but with someone almost a foot taller than you”.

“Excuse me, what?” Remus asked as they headed up to the mess hall for dinner, and back to their cabin for the final phase.

* * *

“Ok now, you’re sure you’ve done this before?” Roman asked as Remus tied an old t-shirt around his neck. His hair length was significantly longer than Remus’, his brown locks covering his ears and touching his neck, whereas Remus’ was neatly shaved from the sides. Well, as neat as it could get, the top of his head was still a birdnest, Roman noticed as he looked at his brother through the mirror in front of him.

“Yeah, totally. I helped Virgil shave the side of his head a few weeks before camp. It’s easy,” Remus said as he took some hair from the side of Roman’s head and brought a pair of big, sharp scissors close. 

Just as he was about to snip the hair, Remus screamed, “OH! OH MY GOD, AAGH” and brought a bloody finger in front Roman’s face, who in turn began screaming.

“OH GOD WHAT HAPPENED! DO YOU NEED A FIRST AID KIT?! WHAT DO I DO?” Roman asked frantically, and his panic morphed into annoyance and anger the second Remus began laughing.

“It’s ketchup,” he said nonchalantly and licked his hand.

“YOU FUCKING PSYCHO,” Roman screamed again, but this time, he was laughing alongside his obviously demented sibling.

“Hey, you said ‘fuck’,” Remus laughed, “And didn’t sound like a posh asshole.”

“Well, I’m supposed to sound like a simple asshole, aren’t I? After all, I am impersonating you,” Roman smirked. 

Other than the ketchup incident ( _ ‘Where did he even get the ketchup?’  _ Roman thought), the haircut went by smoothly, and by the time they were done, Roman welcomed his new look with open arms.

“Ok, let me get the hair dye,” Remus said as he walked to his trunk and took out a bag of supplies.

“The what?” Roman turned around in his chair.

Remus pointed at the single white streak in his quiff, and Roman whimpered at the thought of dyeing his hair for the first time.

“I don’t know how Papa will feel about it,” Roman said as Remus separated an identical streak from Roman’s quiff and clipped it to the side.

“That’s for me to worry. You just worry about it coming out just like mine, otherwise, Dad will know something’s fishy,” Remus said.

“He’s that good?” Roman asked, genuinely in awe of all the stories his brother tells him about their Dad.

“The best,” Remus said as he got to work.

“I look - good..” Roman said as he felt the much shorter hair above his ears. His face didn’t look as framed as it did when his hair fell to his eyes and below his ears, but the streak in his hair made his eyes look bigger and more prominent. And more like Remus. 

“Of course, you do, it’s  _ my  _ look,” Remus said as he stood next to him in front of the mirror. 

Roman looked at him unimpressed, “Not exactly, brother dear. The moustache has to go.”

“Wait what?!” Remus turned to him, surprised.

“Of course!” Roman didn’t understand why he was so shocked, “What’s more believable? Me going to your home shaven, or you going to London sporting facial hair I’ve never grown for the past fifteen years?”

Remus frowned, “The second thing”.

“C’mon, I’ll help”.

Shaving wasn’t as easy as the hair makeover. Granted, it wasn’t much of a moustache, more of a pubestache, but Remus took pride in his facial hair, which meant he was extra fidgety every time Roman tried bringing the shaving blade close to his foamed upper lip. In the end, both the boys’ clothes were stained with shaving foam, Remus had two pieces of tissue stuck under his nose to stop the bleeding cuts, and they were standing in front of the mirror, both in awe of how they looked. Roman looked just like Remus, minus the facial hair; Remus looked just like Roman, minus the coloured strand of hair. The camp administrators will be having a very confused last week, trying to tell them apart.

* * *

Eight weeks at Camp Terryson flew by in a frenzy; so many people made new friends, some of them returned to meet their old friends, either way, every year the administrators would have their hands full with activities, cabin management, making sure children get along with each other. And while the end of camp meant the administrators would get a break, they would be lying if they didn’t miss the kids. It’s why they work here in the first place. 

“It’s always a weird feeling, isn’t it?” Joan said to Thomas as they came back from escorting a few boys to their cars and parents. 

“Yeah, definitely,” Thomas said, knowing exactly what they meant.

“It was an eventful few months, though, what with those bicontinental clones running around trying to decapitate each other,” Joan laughed.

“I don’t know, Joan,” Thomas said as he crossed out the names of the children who had left from his clipboard, “They’ve been getting along pretty great these past few days. They’ve been sitting together in the mess hall.”

“No way,” Joan said disbelievingly.

“It’s true!” Thomas said as he looked up from his papers, immediately seeing the twins standing a few feet away from them, “Look at them!”

“No way,” Joan repeated, their tone even more shocked.

The two boys were hugging each other in what looked like a pretty tight embrace. Had Joan seen the two wrapped around each other like this a few weeks ago, they would have assumed they were wrestling and jumped between them to separate the two boys.

Now, between a large group of boys saying their farewells and looking solemn saying goodbye to their friends, the two didn’t look any different.

Joan and Thomas looked at the two boys and smiled contently, knowing their decision to put them in that cabin had given both boys a taste of adventure and a friendship of a lifetime. What they didn’t know was the newfound friends (and brothers) had barely even begun their adventure. 

* * *

“I never thought I’d say this, but I’m gonna miss you,” Remus said in Roman’s ear as they hugged each other, their bags packed and their hearts heavy.

“Likewise,” Roman said as he tightened his grip before letting go when he heard his name being called out, “That’s for you.”

“Is it Remy?” Remus asked as he looked at a car quite similar to the kind that he had seen on his first day at camp.

“No, that’s just the cab,” Roman said as he heard his name again, “Ok, quick recap, Remy will pick you up at the airport at 8 pm, UK time, got it?”

“Yeah, and Dad will pick you up at 3 pm, Cali time,” Remus said as he picked up his - Roman’s bags - and wore the ridiculous gloves Roman handed him. He felt incredibly weird in his brother’s clothes, but he had to admit he looked like royalty. 

“Roman Cicero, last call!” they heard.

“When do you leave,” Remus asked, picking the last of his luggage.

“In a few hours,” Roman said, before he gave his brother one last hug, “Give Papa a kiss from me.”

Remus held him tighter, “Give Dad one from me. He’ll say he doesn’t like it, but he does”.

Roman laughed and let go, “Good luck”.

“You too, Princey,” Remus gave a little bow before running towards the car for him as Roman crossed his fingers, hoping nothing would go wrong. Then he shut his eyes and prayed, for good measure.

Deep in conversation with the divine power, Roman didn’t notice Thomas walking to him until the man put a hand on his shoulder.

“You okay there, buddy?” he asked.

“Oh y-yes, totally,” Roman smiled charmingly.

“You know, Remus-”

“Roman”

“Oh, sorry. Couldn’t tell you apart, your accent’s changed,” Thomas noted.

“Yeah, I changed it,” Roman said nervously.

“How come”

He took a deep breath, “In the early days when you put Remus and I in the Isolation Cabin,” he said, reverting back to his own accent, “We found out that we, in fact, are twins. Brothers, adopted from the same set of fathers from the same orphanage. However, they divorced years ago, and now we have a plan to bring them back together,” he exhaled loudly. Telling the whole tale to someone else felt different. Good different. 

“Wow,” Thomas said, rubbing the back of his neck, “That’s a lot to take in during a few weeks. What’s the plan, again?”

“We switched places,” Roman said.

“You mean I just sent the wrong kid all the way across the Atlantic to England?!” Thomas cried, clearly panicking.

“Yes, yes! But it’s for love, Thomas,” Roman pleaded, giving his best puppy eyes, “It may bring our family together again…”

Thomas sighed loudly and put his hands on his hips, “Can’t argue with that, I guess. So, you’re headed to…?”

“Napa, California,” Roman said, “Remus is on his way to the airport”.

Thomas sighed again, “You sure you guys know what you’re doing?”

“Absolutely,” Roman said confidently.

“Good luck then, I suppose,” Thomas said, patting Roman’s back softly, “Hope it all works out, kid.”

“Yeah, me too…”

* * *

Landing in Heathrow felt better than Remus could articulate. After an almost eight-hour-long flight, Remus could practically kiss the ground, which he would if he wasn’t so nervous to be meeting his father - his Papa - for the first time ever. As he dragged his luggage around the arrival area, he wondered how different he would look from the crumply old photograph he had in his carry-bag.

But first, he had to meet Remy, who sounded like the coolest butler in the country, who was supposed to pick him up from the airport, which slowly grew more and more crowded.

“Roman!”

Remus turned to the voice calling his brother’s -  _ his name - _ and saw a tall man immaculately dressed in a black three-piece suit, standing three feet away from him, holding a card that had his brother’s -  _ his  _ \- name. 

“Remy!” he rushed to his new butler, looking nothing less than a younger Alfred. 

_ ‘I’m Batman,’  _ Remus thought as he gave Remy a hug.

“Oh, how I’ve missed you, my little prince,” Remy said before he let go to take a good look at the boy in front of him.

“I missed you too, Remy,” Remus replied enthusiastically, his English accent impeccable after weeks of practice.

“Give me five, honey”

_ Oh boy. _

_ Handshake, palm bumps, palm slaps, sideways tushy bumps, go round, and handshake. _

The breath Remus let out felt better than the one had he let out when he landed in London.

“Oh my, eight weeks as camp and you’ve already given yourself a full makeover,” the butler said as he felt Remus’ short hair.

“Yeah, a lot has changed,” he breathed, his chest already feeling heavier knowing exactly what he meant by that comment.

“I’d say,” Remy said, blissfully unaware that the owner of the luggage he was picking up was still in the States.

One massive disadvantage of going to London as your twin: You can’t stop and go sightseeing because, according to everyone around you, you’ve seen those places a thousand times.

Remus kept his head out the entire car ride, looking like the proper tourist he was as they cruised down the streets of London, hoping to catch a few glimpses of the palaces and statues and boutiques. 

Remy kept looking at him suspiciously, especially when Remus almost squawked when he saw a small portion of The London Eye because  _ it’s a huge fucking Ferris wheel in the city! _

“You see the London Eye almost every day on your way to your father’s bakery,” Remy said, his eyebrows high and his tone suspicious. 

“Yes well, you can’t help but be surprised, Remy, especially after eight weeks in a foreign continent,” Remus said.

Remy passed it off as another one of Roman’s dramatic antics and didn’t say anything for the remaining journey in the car.

That is until he said:

“Home sweet home”.

Remus’ blood ran cold. 

He got out of the car, hoping his heart wouldn’t give out by the time he walked up the stone walkway that led to the bright yellow door. 

Remy made himself busy by going to the trunk of the car, “I’ll get your bags, Roman, you go inside. Your father’s dying to see you”.

“Likewise,” Remus said, more to himself than Remy.

He took long strides to the door, excitement finally overtaking his anxiety, and turned the silver knob. The house inside seemed cozier than Remus’, with a beautiful staircase in the centre and a dining room to the right and a wall full of pictures on his left. The framed memories were mostly of Roman and their father, either in the bakery, or in the house, or on a trip to the beach. Remus wondered if he would ever end up on this wall, smiling with his brother and fathers. Like a family.

“Roman?” he heard from the staircase, and suddenly his eyes stung with tears.

“Papa…”

“You’re back!” 

Remus ran up the stairs and to Patton, to his father, who ran down and held him in arms, after about fourteen years, Remus calculated. He smelled like cookies and chocolate, and Remus wondered if he always smelt like this; like home. Remus couldn’t help but do his best to try and remember this smell, this feeling, too afraid to ever go back to never knowing what this felt like. But Patton didn’t know that. He didn’t know that the son crying in his arms was the other half of their puzzle that broke years ago. 

Remus wondered if his Papa could ever love him as Remus and not his brother. He held on tighter, fearing the worst answer. 

But of course, Patton didn’t know.

“I can’t believe it’s you,” Remus said and wiped a tear, already memorizing his father’s face; bright and freckled with round glasses. And a smile that warmed Remus to his core

“And I can’t believe it’s you,” Patton said, the sweetest, softest voice ever, “And with short hair. Who cut it for you?”

_ Oh boy. _

“A boy I met at camp,” Remus said, nervously fiddling with his hair, “Do you hate it?”

“No, I absolutely love it, your eyes look so big,” Patton cooed, cupping his son’s face gently, “And a streak! You look so good, Jim Handsome”.

Remus laughed and wiped his eyes before his father stroked his hair, “Oh, Princey, what is it?”

“I’m sorry, but I missed you. So much,” Remus said, hoping his words would do justice to what he has been feeling all these years.

“Oh, I missed you too, love,” Patton said before he held him again, “It seems like it’s been forever…”

Remus laughed again, “You have no idea, Papa”

And he didn’t. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next update: 20th May 2020  
> Feel free to leave kudos and comments if y'all liked it :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am soo sorry for the late update. It's Eid here and I've been really busy with preparations and all.  
> Anywayy, Eid Mubarak to everyone celebrating.
> 
> Enjoy :)

“Papa, these cupcakes are amazing, is this a new recipe?” Remus asked, his mouth full of the delicious baked goods.

“Well, I had to do something while you were away,” Patton said as he took a sip of his tea that Remy had just poured.

“Would you like a cup?” Remy asked Remus, the teacup hovering over an empty pink teacup.

Remus had no idea what it tasted like, but he wasn’t going to take any chances, “Oh no, that’s alright.”

Apparently, that wasn’t a good idea because Patton immediately asked, “You’ve gone eight weeks without a good cup of Earl Grey! Don’t tell me someone at camp made better tea than Remy,” Patton joked.

“Oh! Speaking of camp - Excuse me,” Remy said as he exited the dining room.

Remus' inner panic lessened with Remy’s abrupt leaving, but Patton was still focused on him.

“Are you feeling alright, darling? Would you like something else?" Patton said worryingly, referring to Remus’ ‘surprise’ decline to have tea.

“Oh yes yes, I’m fine, just too busy with these cupcakes,” he smiles, holding up his half eaten frosted cupcake.

“I found a stowaway in your suitcase,” Remy re entered the room, capturing both their attention.

“Oh god, Kakashi…” Remus whispered under his breath, looking at the precious action figure being so carelessly swung around in Remy’s hand.

“It belongs to my friend! The boy I was telling you about,” Remus covered up, looking at his father.

“Well, since it’s not our Kakashi, should I throw it away?”

“No!” Remus practically screamed, starling both the men in the room.

“I mean, ahem, no,” Remus got up and took his action figure from Remy’s hands, “I’ll mail it to him. He loves this thing a lot, you see. So much. Would kill for him. Thanks, Remy, I’ll take care of it”.

“If you say so,” Remy said before he busied himself with removing the used cutlery from the table. 

Remus let out a sigh of relief and went to sit back with his father, but the phone rang on the table next to the sofa where Patton added a cupcake to his plate.

“Hello,” Patton answered the phone, knowing Remy is busy in the kitchen.

“Are you sure?” he asked, he tone a bit worried, “I mean Roman just got home, can’t you - Ok, ok, I’ll see,” Patton said and covered the speaker with his hand, “Roman, love, would you hate running down the bakery with me?” He asked, and Remus wondered how anyone could say no to those puppy eyes.

“No, I’d love it!” he said sincerely, hsi stomach already rumbling thinking of all the delicious food there. 

The two decided to walk down the bakery, and Patton held on to Remus the entire time, and Remus knew that, now that he’s finally met his other father, he can’t ever live without him. Every warm smile and laugh and hug just made him feel at home, and while he missed his own father and everyone back home, he really couldn’t find it himself to complain when Patton is laughing alongside him while they try to safely cross the busy London road to ‘Cicero’s Bakery'.

"Ok! I'm here, what seems to be the problem?" Patton announced himself as he opened the door to his bakery.

"Oh! We're saved! It's a crisis," one of the co-workers said, running across the bar and to Patton.

"The bride, Petunia, just phoned us. she want a gluten-free cake, and now we need to bake two tiers again, but we don't have the time, they'll be here in an hour," the assistant said, his Scottish accent sounder thicker with every word he said in panic. 

"She just told us?" Patton asked, his tone calm.

"Yes! Can you believe it? Apparently, she's on a damn diet and now-"

"Ok, calm down, Cedric. Just skip the macaroons order today," Patton said calmly.

"But Mrs. Whitworth wants those macaroons in half an hour," Cedric said.

"I'll call her, tell her we're busy today," Patton said and put a hand on Cedric shoulder, guiding him towards the counter, "She's a lovely woman, she'll understand," he walked to the small phone and dialed a number.

"Roman, love, get yourself whatever you want, it's going to be long afternoon," Patton smiled at Remus, who tried his best not to gawk around the bakery like he's there for the first time.

Which he was.

The soft pink and blue walls would've made Remus gag had they not looked so lovely with the white tiled floor, the counter display looking decadent as the soft ambience reflected the glass casing that had baked goods put away in them.

On the counter sat a glass dish with red frosted cupcakes, and Remus couldn't help but grab one and start eating as he sat down on a small settee in the corner. 

He saw his father use the phone, probably talking to Mrs. Whitworth, and he smiled when Patton looked solemn and apologized to the woman about her delayed macaroons.

"Thank you so much, ma'am, and apologies again. You'll get your order delivered tomorrow, afternoon. Thank you, have a nice day," Patton said cheerily as he hung up, "Ok! Cedric, tell the others to start a gluten free white cake batter, right away," Cedric sprinted to the kitchen door and Patton walked behind him. Before entering the kitchen and leaving Remus on the settee, he looked back and said, "Roman honey, would you take a small box from the cupboard and put some cakes and biscuits in it? We'll have some at home with tea," Patton winked playfully and walked into the kitchen, the noise of cutlery and orders given around sounding faint in the small sitting area in the bakery. Remus wasted no time to make a small box full of whatever looked best and put it in a brown bag on the table, still not believing how great everything has been going with his Papa.

* * *

The plane ride was shorter than the one Roman had undertook when he came to this continent, but it was far more nerve-wracking. He had spent his entire time on the plane memorising the names in the house, and trying to think of what to say when he sees his Dad. For the first time. He has a _Dad_.

Roman had about three different lines rehearsed for the moment he would see his father when they meet, but nothing could have prepared for the moment he actually got out the plane and saw a middle aged man, smartly dressed in a black button up and trousers, holding a small paper with his twin brother's name on it, gently smiling as he met Roman's eyes.

Roman's stomach did a flip and immediately forgot about anything and everything he had planned to say to his Dad. 

He smiled just as widely as Logan and ran to him, hugging him warm and tight.

"Welcome home, Remus, you look well," Logan said, his voice clear and well articulated, fit for a professor. 

"Yeah, I feel great, Dad," Roman said excitedly in his best American accent, unable to tear his eyes away from Logan's face, "I missed you. So much," Roman said, wistfully and sincerely.

"And I you. I like the change," Logan pointed at Roman's lack of facial hair and picked up one of his bags, leading both of them to their car nearby, his arms slung around Roman's shoulders, casually yet protectively.

He noticed Roman discreetly looking at him all the time as the walked, and couldn't help but question it, "Is everything ok, Remus? You're staring".

"It's just - you look so different from your pictures," Roman said, before quickly covering it up, "I-I mean from the pictures I took eight weeks ago. Did you get a haircut, Dad?".

"Well, just a little trim from the sides, yes," Logan replied, "One might think you're seeing me for the very first time, judging by the way you're staring at me," he lightly chuckled.

Roman chuckled with him, only his was more panicked and far less casual, "You have no idea," he murmured to himself as they got in a black SUV. 

Logan asked different questions about the camp, Roman's activities and what he did and if he had fun, and it was different from the kind of talks he would have with his Papa, he noticed. Because of his passion, Patton tended to be too excited about Roman's antics and how he felt about them, like a friend. And while he absolutely loved that, having someone just listen and smile and nod without matching Roman's energy felt nice, and Roman felt like he could ramble on and on to answer just one question of Logan's.

"Poems?," Logan asked, after Roman had finished talking about the poetry writing competition that he (not Remus) had participated in, "I never knew you liked poetry…"

"New-found love, Dad," he replied.

"Speaking of writing," Logan continued, "I never received a single letter, even though you promised you would after you bought all those Halloween themed stationary," he said as he turned the steering wheel to the left, the endless landscape of green fields being replaced by fields of various colourful flowers.

"Oh, well, we meant to write, but-"

"We?" Logan asked.

"Oh! A boy I met at camp! We became good friends," Roman said, thinking of his brother.

"Oh, Remus, that's wonderful," Logan said delightedly, "And he didn't tease you? He was polite?"

"Oh no, he was a nuisance at time, but we had great fun," Roman laughed.

"Nuisance?" Logan smiled, "I must say Remus, I am quite happy with your recent developments. This camp must've been better than I thought".

"Oh it was and - Oh my god, we're home!" Roman squealed.

"Now that sounds more like you," Logan said as he parked the car in the front of the huge white and brown house, surrounded by a beautiful lush field, with neatly trimmed grass and colourful bushes. 

Roman got out the car, and the front door of the house opened to reveal a man, close to Logan's age, running out with his arms open.

"Ohh, is that my Buttercup?!" Emile said as he ran to Roman and hugged him so tight, his feet were in the air for about five seconds, "I missed you so much, your father isn't nearly as fun as you,"

"Missed you too, Emile," Roman said softly, marvelling at the resemblance between Emile and his Papa had when it came to being excited.

"What's wrong with this kid, Lo? He's so quiet," Emile asked Logan, and before Roman could answer through his panicked mind, Logan said, "He's probably just tired, Emile. Remus, why don't you get something to eat?" 

"Oh yes," Emile said and led Roman inside the house and into the living room, "Go freshen up, take a shower and all, and then we'll eat, ok?"

Roman climbed the stairs to the bedrooms, trying to remember Remus' crayon drawn map in his head.

"Ok first door after Dad's bedroom, with the green coloured stars on it…" he mumbled to himself as he passed Logan's door and slowly walked to the next white door with green fluorescent stars.

"This is the one, right?"

He was so caught up in trying to remember the house's layout that he didn't notice the purple and black door behind him open.

"Eight weeks at camp and you've already forgotten where your room is?"

Roman actually jumped and squealed in fright, and put his hand on his chest to stop his rabbiting heart. 

Normally, a person's heartbeat slows down to normal once they are no longer afraid. But Roman's only sped up.

"Virgil…" he whispered.

"If you're waiting for the "I missed you" speech, tough luck," he said, his voice gravelly and firm.

Roman couldn't reply, couldn't register what Virgil had just said. He was too caught up in the purple streaks in his thick black hair that came forward to cover his left eye, doing absolutely nothing to hide the burning fire Roman saw behind Virgil's brown irises.

"Umm" Roman said, fully aware of how stupid he must look and sound.

"You shaved?!" Virgil noticed and walked towards Roman. Roman wondered why palms even sweat when Virgil came close to his face. 

"It looks nice. Finally," Virgil said and brought his fingers to feel the soft area above Roman's lips, "Huh… it's smoother than I'd expect," he said, and Roman fused a metaphorical circuit.

"I'm gonna- go - just- umm - shower, uh yeah…" Roman said pathetically and pointed to his brother's door behind him.

Virgil scoffed, "Whatever, weirdo," he said jokingly and went down the stairs, leaving Roman in front in the hallway as he imagined the words 'Whatever, weirdo' engraved on his tombstone.

* * *

He spent his twenty minute shower thinking about his father, Emile, Virgil and how he's going to adjust in this house. It felt weird, and Roman knew it would be difficult to try to act like he's home when he can't help but feel like an outsider. 

He desperately wanted to know his Dad, but how could he when everyone thinks he's been living here, with him, all his life. 

He stepped out the shower and grabbed his clothes from the bed, a red t-shirt and trousers. Comfortable enough to move around and discreetly explore the house.

Emile called his name - his brother's name - and he grabbed his phone and quickly combed his hair before rushing down for some food. 

The kitchen counter was set just for him, various dishes, both sweet and savoury, lining the marble slab seperating the living room from the kitchen. 

"This looks great. Thanks Emile!" Roman said, reaching for half a sandwich.

"Oh no problem, buddy, missed cooking for you," Emile laughed and put the electric kettle on, "This one doesn't have much of an appetite," he pointed a spoon at Virgil, who was casually draped across one of the sofas.

"Since when do you thank him?" Virgil asked, his eyes squinting, as if he was trying to see through Roman. 

Roman was afraid he could.

"C'mon, Virgil, Remus was just being nice," Emile said and put a teabag in a colourful mug. Roman had been craving for a good cup of tea, he didn't think when he said, "Could make me some too, please?"

Emile turned to him, "What, tea?" He sounded shocked, and Roman realized mistake.

"Oh yeah, I had some at camp. Turns out, I like it!" He said, trying to sound as if his love for a good cuppa was a shock.

"Ok, pal, sure," Emile said kindly and took out another mug from the cupboard.

"Tea?" Virgil asked, "What'd they do to you there, man?"

"Gave me a whole new life," Roman said, and lightly chuckled at his own inside joke.

"Hmm…" Virgil said, and nothing more. 

Roman now knew when Remus said he didn't know if Roman was Virgil's type. There was no telling with that boy, because he barely tells you anything. 

His train of thought came to a stop when Emile asked, "So you wanna eat more and then unpack? Or unpack then eat more? Or we could eat more while we unpack," he said and gave Roman his cup of tea.

"I can eat in my room?" Roman asked, remembering all the times his Papa had told him not to.

Emile, however, didn't seem to stop him, "I mean, yes, that's a possibility"

Logan said, standing under the door of the living room that opened to the grounds "Emile, Remus, I will be outside but the pool of anyone needs me". 

"Yeah me too," Virgil said before he followed Logan outside.

Unpacking his luggage went by swiftly and Roman managed to quickly hide anything that belonged to him and not Remus. Soon he was free, and decided to head down to the pool himself. 

He wore a pair of loose white trunks of his brother's, and debated if he needed any toys to play with before he remembered he was almost 16 and had a macho reputation.

He'll play in his bathtub.

Logan was sitting on one of the chairs with a few of his books on the table, his tie a bit askew and hair messy, as if he had been running his fingers in concentration.

Roman remembered Remus mentioning something like that.

Virgil was sitting with half his legs submerged in the pool, his black trunks and tanktop making his bare arms and shoulders even more pale. And making Roman plan their wedding.

"Mind if I join you?" Roman asked.

"Sure," Virgil said and patted the spot next to him.

The water felt cold as he dipped his legs in, a stark contrast to the ground that was heated up under the mid-July Sun.

"You seem different," Virgil looked at Roman, "I know you've just come back, but eight weeks isn't a lot. Especially for you. Something's different…"

"Summer of changes, maybe?"

"Hmm," he said for the second since they met and Roman was beginning to think it was a habit, a response he would give to others so he could think for himself. 

Roman supposed he should act more like Remus, more chaotic.

So did the first thing he could think.

He pushed Virgil into the pool.

The second he did that, regret flooded his veins and he kept apologizing profusely as Virgil came up to the surface.

"You idiot!"

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I panicked!"

"What'd you panic for, stupid?!" Virgil yelled, and then laughed and pulled Roman in the pool with him, the cold water enveloping his whole body.

Their splashing around was interrupted by Logan, who had his phone his left hand and a pen and book in his right, "Boys, do keep quiet. I have company," he said before walking away into the ground and towards the driveway.

"Oh, he's here," Virgil rolled his eyes and got out of the pool to sit the way he was before.

Roman waddled in the pool a bit longer, and caught glimpse of an equally well dressed man next to his father, both of them walking toward the gazebo at the far end of the ground.

"Who's he?" Roman asked as he walked to Virgil and pulled himself up, pretending not to notice Virgil staring at his arms.

"They're university colleagues," Virgil scowled as he toweled his hair. Roman, noticing his distaste, questioned, "You don't like him?"

"He's a prick, just after your Dad's job," Virgil said as his voice grew louder, "He doesn't even realize it, but Janus just wants the promotion your Dad was gonna get".

"Janice?" Roman sniggered.

"Jan-Us. It's some god I think. I don't care," Virgil said dismissively.

"Ah, the Roman god of crossroads and beginnings. Sounds shifty," Roman thought outloud.

"How do you know that shit?" Virgil asked.

"Camp"

"Whatever, that snake's after your Dad's promotion as department head," Virgil explained, and lowered his voice when he saw the pair walking towards them.

"Remus, there's someone I'd like you to meet," Logan said as both of them sat down on chairs in front of the boys.

"This is Janus, a colleague of mine. Janus, my son, Remus," he introduced the two, and Janus leaned forward with his gloved hand outstretched, "Lovely to meet you, Remus".

Roman shook his hand, "Hi. Bit hot for gloves, no?" He commented, noticing the way the yellow gloves were heated under the sun. 

"I prefer it. Fashion sense and all that," Janus smiled, "Not that I have to explain that to. Those are a lovely pair of trunks"

Roman smiled in return, glad that someone had finally caught on his taste in fashion, "Oh thank you,"

Logan stepped forward and put a hand on Janus' shoulder, "If you'll excuse us, we have to work".

"Yes, of course. It was lovely to meet you, Remus. Hello, Virgil," Janus said before walking away with Logan, not waiting for an answer from Virgil. Who didn't bother answering, anyway.

"Yes, you too, Janus," Roman said before turning to Virgil, "He's so nice, so glad Dad's got a good friend," Roman said, knowing that Remus once mentioned that their Dad had trouble making and keeping friends.

Virgil, however, did not return his sentiment, "Are you seriously that thick?!" He said and smacked him on the head, "They're dating!" 

Roman rubbed the back of his head where Virgil's paml had landed, "Oh please, he hasn't had a date in years," 

_Not since Papa._

"Well, clearly that changed," Virgil said, "Look!" 

Roman turned to where Virgil was looking and, to his shock, saw Janus holding Logan's hand and kissing it, before he moved forward and kissed his cheek. 

"And you're sure he's after Dad's promotion?"

"100%. I overheard him talking to someone on the phone," Virgil said as he pulled his legs from the pool and stood up, Roman following his movement.

"We have to stop them, then! Seperate them!" Roman shrieked.

"What'd you think we should do?" Virgil said before he wrapped a towel round his neck and started walking toward the house, "I tried mentioning it to him subtly, he won't listen,"

"But-"

"C'mon, Remus, you know him. You know he's stubborn."

But he wasn't Remus, and he didn't know him.

Dad being involved with someone else meant that him and Remus couldn't have Papa and him meet, which meant that their plans of having a proper family were effectively down the drain.

Remus needed to know this, because Roman had no idea what to do now.

"You coming?" Virgil asked when he noticed he was walking towards the house alone.

"Give me a minute, I need to make a phone call," Roman replied and quickly dialled his brother's phone number.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Update: 29th May, 2020
> 
> Feel free to leave kudos and comments if y'all liked it :))


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Online Classes have started, and I wasn't able to update  
> Really sorry!!
> 
> Hope you enjoy :))

Remus knew his Papa was good at what he does, but the way he handled the gluten-free wedding cake crisis was really impressive, and it was clear how much love he puts into the work. By the end of the day, the bride was happy, Mrs. Whitworth’s order was ready for the next day and the two were now in the living room enjoying the few pastries Remus had picked out from the bakery. 

So far, he had been having the best time of his life, and unlike his Dad, Patton didn’t seem to be suspicious when Remus asked questions that Roman would definitely know the answer to. That is until he decided to push his luck.

“You know who’d look really good cutting one of your wedding cakes? I mean, really good?” he asked when Patton cut a slice of the first white cake (with gluten) Cedric had baked.

“Hmm,” he said playfully and pretended to think, “Who, indeed?”

“You!”

“Me?!” Patton laughed, “Don’t be ridiculous!”

“I’m not!” Remus said and swallowed his last piece of cake, “I mean, hasn’t all this time making wedding cakes and dealing with married couples made you think about getting married yourself?”

“Well no, kiddo, I have you,” Patton said sweetly and Remus wished he would say the same if he found out he isn’t Roman.

“And what about when I’m not there?” Remus continued, determined to make his father understand him, “Yes, Remy is there, but deep down, you’re alone, Papa. Really alone…”

When Patton looked down at his teacup sadly, Remus pressed on, “You try to hide it, but I can tell,”

“Roman, I-”

“What happened to my Dad?” he decided to go in for the kill.

“Roman Cicero, you know I don’t like to talk about him. Why the sudden curiosity?” Patton asked, his voice growing louder and more anxious.

But Remus wasn’t going to give up. Not when he’s come so far, literally and figuratively.

“Papa, I need to know,” he said softly, “At least tell me how he was like”.

Patton sighed before smiling sadly.

“He was lovely. Too lovely,” he chuckled, and Remus felt warm hearing someone talk about his Dad like that, “He was really smart, too. Absolutely brilliant. He was American, you know?”

_ “Wh-what?”  _ Remus stuttered, almost breaking his cover while trying not to laugh.

“A ball?!”

“That’s right,” Patton said, now smiling widely, “It was an event at a local museum, and I was volunteering to help. Your Dad had come from California for a small speech. We danced the whole night,” he sighed again.

Remus couldn’t believe how much he had found out in the past few minutes. He wondered if it could get any better.

“We named you after the exhibit we loved the most,” Patton looked at him and gently stroked his cheek, “Roman History.”

Remus’ heart sank. 

_ Roman. _

Only he wasn’t Roman. What was he named after then? What does he have in special then?

“Oh, that’s lovely,” he said softly.

“Yeah, he thought so too”

“Why did you sep-”

“I see you’ve already had your dessert, but dinner is ready sir,” Remy announced as he entered knocking, effectively interrupting Remus.

"Oh, brilliant," Patton said and got up the sofa, "C'mon then, it's lasagne night".

"Oh I love las-" Remus was about to follow Patton and Remy out the door, but his phone vibrated in his pocket, and he took it out to see his brother's name on the screen, "Would you excuse me, Papa? It's a friend," he said trying his best to hide his phone screen.

"Sure, kiddo. Don't be too long," Patton said before exiting the lounge and leaving Remus alone.

He swiped to attend Roman's call, "Hello," he said, still in an English accent.

"Remus, I've got to talk to you, it's an emergency," Roman said through the phone, also in an English accent, which meant he was alone.

"Ok, give me two seconds," Remus said before sprinting up to his brother's room and locked the door behind him.

"Ok I'm alone," he said excitedly, "Oh my god, Papa is so fucking awesome and cool and I love his bakery so much and-"

"Remus, Remus calm down, I need to talk to you, it's about Dad," Roman interrupted him, his tone growing more and more urgent.

"What about Dad? Is he ok?"

"He's in love!"

"Shut up, Dad doesn't fall in love," Remus laughed.

"Well it's serious, he's kissing him and working with him, and being all lovey-dovey, it's disgusting…" Roman literally gagged. 

"Bro, I thought you liked love," Remus pointed out and laid down on the bed.

"I do, but not if it doesn't bring our families together," Roman groaned, "Remus, you have to bring Papa out here immediately".

Remus sat up on the bed, "What?!"

"Yes! I don't know how long I can keep them apart and make him talk about Papa, it's n-"

"Just sabotage them, do whatever you have to," Remus said desperately.

"I'm trying, but I only met the man 12 hours ago. I don't even know him that well," Roman answered, sounding equally desperate, "You have to bring Papa,"

"Roman, I can't, I want more time with him," Remus said sternly.

"But-"

"Look, just do what you have to do, ok? I'm going to dinner. Later," was all Remus said before he hung up and went down to where Patton had been calling for him.

* * *

"Thanks for your help,  _ bro _ ," Roman said sarcastically at his phone and put it away for the night, knowing that tomorrow would bring about new complications to their already complicated plan, and he had no idea how to do it on his own.

* * *

The next four days were spent in Janus trying to warm up to Roman, who did his best to avoid him. When he couldn’t walk away from Janus’ creepy attempts to become ‘buddies’, Virgil would come and save him, giving Janus his stink eye and Roman a reassuring hand on the shoulder.

By day five, both of them were  _ exhausted _ . 

“What does Dad see in him?” Roman asked Virgil while they were sprawled on Remus’ bedroom floor playing Jenga.

“I mean, the dude’s shifty, but he’s smart,” Virgil said as he carefully placed a wooden tile on the wobbling tower, “They’re so much like each other. Your turn.”

Roman sat up to slide a tile from the middle, “I know, but what about opposites attract?”

Virgil scoffed as Roman placed his tile on the tile, “That doesn’t exist Rem,"

Roman looked at Virgil and wondered how it couldn't exist. He had feelings for Virgil, and they're polar opposites.

His dad fell for Papa all those years ago, and Roman now knows just how different they can be.

Opposites attract, but maybe they don't last forever.

Roman's heart felt heavy as its rhythmic beating sped up inside his chest, his fingers slightly shaking as he took another tile out.

"You know, as much as that guy annoys me, I thought you'd be happy for your Dad," Virgil said as he watched Roman's hand shake when he brought the wooden tile to the top.

The tiles wobbled.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you've always talked about having another parent, another dad," Virgil said.

Roman placed the tile.

"What if I already have one?" 

The tower fell.

"What?" Virgil said, not bothering to hide his shock.

"I- I haven't been completely honest with you, Virgil," Roman said in his normal accent and sat up to cross his legs.

"Why are you talking like that?" Virgil asked, almost laughing.

"Look, I'm not Remus," Roman said and immediately regretted his words because Virgil started yelling, "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"

"Virgil, calm down!"

"No no, this is a sick sick joke, Rem. Who told you? Was it Emile? Did he tell you? I know I'm not supposed to like you, but this isn't funny, Remus. This is fucking weird and hurtful. And don't fucking talk like that!" 

Roman gently put his hands on Virgil's shaking shoulders, who reluctantly let him, "Virgil, listen to me. I'm not Remus. I met Remus at camp, and we found out that we're brothers. Twins," Roman explained as slowly and simply as he possibly could, "Here, I can show you,"

He quickly pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed Remus' number, who thankfully picked up, "Greetings and Namaste, Brother Dear," his voice rang through the speakerphone, obnoxious and in an exaggerated British accent which caught Virgil's attention.

"Remus, hi, are you alone?" Roman asked and looked at Virgil.

"Yep, in your room, what's up?"

"Virgil wants to say hello"

"Virgil?!" Remus squealed, "Oh Emo, I miss you!"

"Remus?" Virgil's voice shook.

"Yeah, it's me!" Remus said excitedly, before his tone changed, "Wait, Roman does this mean he knows?" 

"Roman?" Virgil asked and looked at Roman.

"Hi," Roman smiled and waved, before answering Remus, "Yeah he knows. Listen, Remus, I'm serious, Dad really into Janus."

"Janus? The  _ love _ you mentioned?" Remus laughed.

"No he's right," Virgil said and grabbed Roman's phone from his hand, "I'm pretty sure a proposal is on the way"

"Wait, seriously?" Remus said, finally sounding as concerned as Roman wanted him to be.

"Yes! Please bring Papa here," Roman pleaded, "I understand you want more time with him. I want to spend time with Dad too! But if we pull this off, we have our whole lives to be with them".

Remus stayed quiet on the other line before he sighed, "You're right, I'll tell him tomorrow."

"Thank you," Roman said, meaning every syllable. He wanted to talk more, but Remus interrupted him, "Now give the phone to Virgil, I wanna talk to him!" 

Roman chuckled and handed the phone over to Virgil, who put it off speakerphone and to his ear.

As they spoke, Roman busied himself in putting the Jenga tiles up neatly to make a new tower. He was almost done putting the last three tiles when Virgil said his goodbyes and hung up.

"Short conversation," Roman said, again in his normal accent, knowing that there's nothing to hide now.

"Yeah, someone called him down," Virgil said and sat down on the floor opposite to Roman, the wooden tower separating them, "He told me about your plan… He's in London," he stated as a fact.

"He is," Roman said, making the first move and pulling a tile out, "It's where I'm from"

"I figured," Virgil said as he took a tile of his own, "He's so far away from home…"

Roman sighed, "So am I," and for the first time since the secret spilled out, Virgil looked directly at him. 

"I should've known," he whispered.

"What do you mean?" Roman asked.

"Nothing. Forget it," Virgil said and pulled a tile out, taking Roman's turn.

"No, tell me. What do you mean by that? Why did you say you're not supposed to like me," Roman asked, not wasting a single breath.

"Oh for fuck's sake," Virgil groaned, "You've been acting so weird lately! Ever since you got back! And first I thought you were just prissy from camp, but now it makes sense! You're not Remus, and I should've known," 

"And the second question?" Roman said, finally taking his turn.

"Look I didn't mean to say it but, I like you," Roman's heart stopped, "And now I get it, it was basically because you're not Remus," Virgil breathed through his nose, "I'm sorry, you don't even know me, and I'm-"

"Virgil," Roman put a hand on the other boy's, "I do know you, just not in the same way as Remus does"

"What do you mean," Virgil asked, turning the tables.

This was Roman's time to shine, "Remus has been with you his whole life. He knows you better than I, but there are some things that I found out about you to"

He took a shaky breath, "Remus knows what makes you laugh. But he never saw the way your eyes crinkle in the corners when you do. He's seen you excited, but he never looked at the way your face lights up when you do," Roman stopped himself, not wanting to go too overboard, "He knows you too well to look beyond what he already sees"

"What're you trying to say?" Virgil said both confused and panicking, "You like me?"

"So much," Roman giggled, "I've been crushing on you since the moment Remus showed me your picture at camp".

"Oh god," Virgil groaned, then laughed, then put his head in his hands, "This is so weird"

Understatement of the century, Roman thought. But he just said, "Your turn".

Virgil looked at him and then the tiles, before pulling on out and putting on top of it. 

"So we get your Dad to meet your Dad," Virgil said, a little calmer than he was before, "How?"

"We're still working on that," Roman said, "Janus is a predicament".

"God it's so weird seeing Remus' face but hearing your voice," Virgil laughed, "Can't believe there's two of you now"

"The more the merrier?"

Virgil laughed obnoxiously as Roman put another tile and groaned. 

"Ok very funny," he said, "I still don't know how to do this alone. It's proper stressful"

Virgil took his turn, "I mean you're not alone," he put the tile on top, "You got me"

Roman put a tile on top of Virgil's, "You'll help me?"

"Sure," Virgil said coolly and pulled out a tile before putting it next to Roman's, "Hi, I'm Virgil," he said and held his hand out.

Roman was confused until he saw what he was doing. 

Starting anew.

As always, he decided to amp it up.

He took Virgil's hand before gently turning upside down, "Hello Virgil. I'm Roman," he said and kissed the top of Virgil's hand like a suitor courting his lover.

Virgil, in turn, blushed the most striking shade of red Roman had ever seen before he said, "Hey, Roman," as Roman put his tile next to Virgil's, completing the set.

The tower didn't wobble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next update: 7th June 2020  
> Feel free to leave kudos and comments of y'all liked it :))


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is kinda short, so sorry about that, but I really hope you enjoy it :')

After telling Virgil the truth, it felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off of Roman’s (quite muscular) shoulders, and they both could finally bond as themselves with Roman not playing a part, and the more Virgil opened up to him, the more Roman felt himself falling for him.

The two were spending one of their afternoons in Virgil’s bedroom, which was basically a reflection of its inhabitant brooding personality, and the thick black curtains allowed little light to enter the room, bathing the whole room in a warm afternoon glow as the boys sat on his bed and vividly talked about Virgil’s taste in music.

“But they sound so angry!” Roman argued as Virgil played another Metallica song on his phone.

“That’s the point, dumbass,” Virgil snickered.

Roman crossed his arms, “Hmph, whatever. Don’t you prefer something softer?”

“Like what?” Virgil asked, still scrolling on his phone.

Roman got an idea.

"Like Disney!"

"Disney?" Virgil scoffed, "No thank you"

"C'mon, sour puss," Roman said and stood up from the bed and outstretched his hand,  _ "I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream" _

Virgil laughed, before grabbing Roman's hand and singing along,  _ "I know you, that gleam in your eyes is so-" _

"What's going on here?" Logan's voice broke the siren's call that was Virgil's voice, and had he not been Roman's father, Roman would have karate chopped him in the neck, there and then.

"We were singing," Roman said pitifully.

"Oh, that's nice," Logan said, "Pardon my interruption, but I was looking for you, Remus".

Roman hummed in acknowledgment.

"I was wondering if you'd like to take a stroll with me? There's something I've been meaning to talk to you," he said, politely.

"Oh, I'd love to!" Roman replied.

"Perfect, I shall meet you downstairs in five minutes," Logan said before exiting the room and closing the door behind him.

"Oh no…" Virgil said behind him.

"What?" Roman asked, lacing his sneakers.

"He's going to talk about Janus," Virgil said, and Roman's heart sank.

"I really hope not," Roman sighed, desperately wanted the stroll to be about them bonding, not some other stranger.

"Not to be pessimistic, which I am," Virgil grumbled, "But if he does, just don't panic, ok?"

"Ok," Roman smiled confidently. 

* * *

The walk was nice enough, but Roman could sense the tension that hung between them. Every conversation seemed strained and felt more like small talk. 

"What'd you wanted to talk about, Dad?" Roman said, finally breaking the ice.

"I was hoping to talk to you about Janus," Logan said, his pace slowing down.

The green gardens around Roman seemed to move in the most horrific way.

"What about him," he asked, struggling to make a word out past the literal and figurative lump in his throat.

"What do you think of him?" Logan answered with a question, "Do you like him?"

"I only just met the guy, Dad," Roman argued, a bit touched that his Dad would want to know his opinion before making a decision, "He's basically a stranger to me, I don't know how I feel about him"

Logan sighed helplessly, and Roman feared the worst.

"Why the sudden interest, Dad?"

"I- I've asked him to be a part of the family," Logan said slowly, "Our family. As my husband".

_ 'Fuck opinions, he's already asked him!'  _ Roman thought as his heart shattered and he couldn't stop thinking about his lonely Papa back home.

"Marry him?!" Roman yelled, his voice almost echoing in the empty field, "Are you insane?  _ ¿Cómo no puedes ver que solo está tratando de usarte? Es una serpiente tan manipuladora y vas a joder- _ " 

_ (How can you not see that he is just trying to use you? it's such a manipulative snake and you're going to fucking-) _

"Remus, Remus, calm down," Logan grabbed his shoulders and gently shook him, before looking absolutely baffled, "Were you speaking Spanish?" 

"I learned it at camp," Roman used his favourite excuse.

"Darling, what's gotten into you?" Logan spoke softly and tuck a stray curl behind Roman's ear, "You're so different…"

"Nothing, just," Roman couldn't hold his tears now, "Dad, you can't marry Janus, it'll totally ruin everything!"

That was all he could say before sprinting back in the direction of the house and bursting into the living room.

"What the hell do I do now, we never planned this," Roman paced in the empty room, not caring about the way or how loud he spoke. He needed to vent.

"How does he expect me to do it without him, I can't, I'm just a teenager, and this whole-"

“You ok there, Remus?” Emile said, turning in his chair, which made the panicking teenager jump. Roman really needed to get everyone in this house a bell.

“Yeah, you just frightened me!” Roman said, his hand on his chest trying to calm his breathing.

“You - what?” Emile asked, shocked at Roman’s words.

“You scared me,” Roman clarified, “Like, I didn’t know you were there and-”

“No, I get that,” Emile interrupted, “But I’ve never heard you use that word”.

Roman was confused (Again. He rarely knew what was going on.)

“Scared?”

“No, ‘frightened’,” Emile said and walked closer to where Roman stood, “Are you sure there isn’t something you wanna talk to me about?”

Roman gulped, “Like what?” he asked, playing dumb.

Emile just scoffed, “Like how come, after all these years, you and Virgil are basically inseparable and weirdly clingy?”

_ Shit. _

“Or how your appetite has changed? Don’t think I haven’t noticed you picking the broccoli out of your lasagne!”

_ Shit _ .

“And why suddenly, you’re neat as a  _ pin _ , showering every day, and most importantly, using words like ‘fright’?”

Roman didn’t know how to answer any of those questions, so as always, he went with his fool-proof excuse.

“Emile, I just changed a lot over the summer, that’s all,” he said in the most innocent ways possible.

Emile, still unconvinced, just took his glasses off to clean them with his t-shirt, “ _ Ok _ . But if I didn’t know any better, it’s almost as if you were-”

_ ‘Wait what? _ ’ Roman thought, trying to connect the dots.

Before he could ask, Emile turned around and said, “Forget it. It’s impossible,” before walking away.

Roman wasn’t giving up now. He couldn’t.

“Almost as if I were who, Emile?”

“Nobody, forget I said anything,” he smiled and waved his hands in the air and wore his now clean glasses, walking towards the kitchen.

_ No. _

“Almost as if I was Roman?” he asked shakily.

Emile stopped in his tracks, and quickly turned around, “You know about Roman?” 

“I- I am Roman,” he said and smiled meekly.

The moment Emile gasped in awe, Logan came rushing into the living room, “Remus, please don’t run away from me like that. I understand your reaction, but- Emile, why are you looking at him like that?”

Roman looked at Emile’s red, splotchy face, eyes filled with tears, “Like what? I’m not looking at him in a special way,” he sniffled, and Roman thanked every deity out there when Emile didn’t tell his father the truth. His reaction, however, was less than what would be considered normal.

“I’ve looked at him like I’ve looked at him for fifteen years. Since the day you brought him from the orphanage,” he said, his voice growing in emotion with every word he spoke, “1-year-old, 21 pounds, 30 inches long, this is how I look at him,” at this point, he was openly crying, “Can I hug you?!” he basically bawled, and Roman walked into his arms and smiled.

“Oh, he’s so handsome,” Emile cried on his shoulder, “And so big, you’re almost sixteen!”

The moment let Roman go, he walked back to the kitchen, “I’m gonna make you something to eat. Just whatever we have, doesn’t even matter,” he said and wiped a tear with his t-shirt sleeve.

The moment Roman and Logan were left alone, Logan said, “Don’t run out on me like that, Remus, it’s imperative that I talk to you.”

“You’ve said what you wanted to, Dad, and my answer is no,” Roman said firmly.

“Why won’t you tell me why you don’t like Janus?” Logan implored.

“Why won’t you tell me about your husband? My other dad?” Roman countered.

Logan sighed and sat down on the couch, “I prefer not to talk about him,”

Roman had heard this exact statement from his Papa, and frankly, he was sick of it.

“Don’t do that,” Roman said, “I deserve to know.”

“Yes,” Logan said, defeatedly, “I suppose you do,” he looked up, and Roman sat down on the table opposite the couch Logan occupied.

“What would you like to know?”

The afternoon was spent in Roman asking questions about his Papa that he spent years learning, but through Logan’s eyes, even the way he used to make tea seemed lovely. It was painfully obvious that their parents were still thinking of each other, and were very lonely.

“Why do you want to marry Janus?” Roman asked bluntly once their conversation subsided.

“It’s an ideal match, Remus,” Logan spoke as if he was talking about a basic formula. An obvious fact, “We’re both willing to spend our lives together, seeing as we already spend all our time with each other,”

“So?” Roman said loudly, “Virgil and I spend all our time together, doesn’t mean I wanna marry him,” ‘ _ I do, I really really do, please don’t take it seriously,’ _ he silently prayed.

“It’s just easier, Remus,” Logan sighed.

“Marriage isn’t a convenience, Dad, and you’re smart enough to know that”

Roman really felt he had made his point across, and Logan’s eyes seemed less foggy with that last comment. Maybe he would've changed his mind there and then, had Janus not knocked on the living room door that opened into the gardens.

“God, why,” Roman grumbled as Logan got up to greet Janus with a kiss on the cheek.

“Did you tell him?” Janus whispered excitedly as if he was being subtle.

“Yes, but he didn’t react as I expected him too,” Logan explained.

Roman, frustrated to the point where he couldn’t take it anymore, got up and walked out into the gardens and sat in the small gazebo.

He saw Janus and his Dad talk for about a minute before Janus kissed him straight on the mouth and walked toward the gazebo.

Roman’s stomach churned.

“Hey,” Janus said and he stepped inside, “Mind if I join you?” 

“I guess,” Roman grumbled half-heartedly.

“I take it the news shocked you,” Janus smiled.

“Yep,” Roman rolled his eyes.

“I understand,” he chuckled, “I remember what it was like being a teenager, not knowing what love is, and being fascina-”

“I’m gonna stop you right there, Jan,” Roman interrupted him, surprised at his own cockiness, “I know enough about love to get me by, trust me. And I know what my Dad sees in you,”

“You do?” Janus asked as he sat back, shocked, and confident.

“Yeah!” Roman continued, “I mean, you’re young and classy, and hey! My Dad’s only human. But marriage is supposed to be more than about sex, right?” Roman finished, silently questioning his crudeness (he blames Remus).

“Boy, your father underestimates you,” Janus raised his eyebrows, his body language becoming harder to read.

“But you won’t. Right, Janus?” he led on.

“Look here, kid, I adore your father, and I will marry him, no matter what.”

“And your willingness to wed him conveniently coinciding with the week he got his promotional offer is completely coincidental?” Roman crossed his arms, laying all his cards on the table.

That effectively pissed Janus off, “Ok, pussycat, you listen and you listen good. The day I marry your father, I’m shipping your spoilt ass off to boarding school in Switzerland, and nothing can stop me from convincing him to get rid of you like that, least of all stop me from saying ‘I do’”

_ ‘Wait till you find out there’s two of us, bitch,’  _ Roman thought, finally understanding the thrill Remus feels while cursing. 

“Is that clear?” Janus asked, leaning forward.

Roman didn’t bat an eye and leaned closer, their noses almost touching, “Crystal”.

The moment Janus left the gazebo with an eye roll and scoff, Roman texted Remus:

_ ‘Pissed Janus off. Dad’s still serious.’  _

_ ‘Emile knows.’ _

_ ‘You need to bring Papa.’ _

_ ‘Good luck’ _

_ ‘P.S, I may have started enjoying saying ‘bitch’. I blame you. Love you, bro’. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next update: 17th June 2020  
> Feel free to leave kudos and comments if y'all liked it :))


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All jokes about Americans are purely for comedic purposes, it's not meant to offend anyone :))

In the entire month Remus had been in London, he hadn’t seen the typical grey rainy afternoon he usually saw in movies. Obviously the day he decided to break the news to his Papa, the afternoon sky looked like an evening atmosphere. Remy had switched on all the lights in the house, and it seemed brighter than usual. Warmer than usual. Remus wanted to blame the lights, but deep down he knew he was nervous. 

The words  _ You need to bring Papa _ seemed to flash in front of his eyes as if they were projected on the white wall in Roman's bedroom. He knew this day would come, he just didn't think it'd come so fast.

When he decided on the plan- when he came up with the plan- with his brother, he knew he'd love his Papa. He never thought he'd grow crazy about him. He just never wanted the time he had with him to end. Not when he's been waiting so long. 

But a huge part of him wanted him to love him back as Remus, not Roman. He still doesn't know if Papa would treat him the way he has been this past month, but he has no doubt that it's the way he treats Roman.

Remus sighed loudly and ran his fingers in his hair and got up from the bed and began pacing in his room. His mind felt like it was in overdrive, waiting to combust. He caught his reflection in one of the mirrors hanging on the wall and he stopped to look at himself.

He must've looked stupid, standing completely still and staring at his reflection.

But it gave him the answer he needed.

He was seeing his reflection. Noone else's.

It was Roman's face, yes, but none of Roman's mannerisms. 

Remus' mind went wild,  _ He has wide eyes, but mine are more wild. His hair could never pull off this messy look. I don't stand like him. I'm not like him. I'm me. _

With his confidence surging in his whole body, he went out the bedroom and towards Patton's bedroom. The moment he knocked and entered the room, he saw Patton comfortably sitting under the covers of his bed, talking on the phone in, what sounded like Spanish, quite fluently. Immediately, Remus' anxiety crept up the confidence he had built up five minutes ago.

_ My eyes aren't as wide as him. Please like them. My hair's always messy. Please don't hate it, I can brush it if you want. I stand weird, I can stand straighter. I'm not Roman. Please like me. _

"The weather's horrible, love," Patton said, hanging up his call, "Why don't I ask Remy to fix some hot chocolate? It'll be a real treat," he smiled and patted the space next to him and Remus walked to the bed and got in. 

"Uhh no thanks, Papa," Remus cleared his throat, "I need to tell you something".

His expression must be really serious, but Patton immediately grew worried, "What is it, kiddo?" 

"I need to go back to America," he said bluntly, and Patton looked even more confused.

"Back?" Patton laughed, "You just got back, mister,"

"Yeah, but I need to go. It's important," Remus said, his face downcast towards the blue duvet.

"Roman, is there something you're not telling me?" Patton asked, and Remus sighed.

He decided to break the ice slowly. Melt it a little first.

"You know the other day, when I asked about Dad?" he said softly.

"Roman, not this again," Patton sighed impatiently and took his glasses off to rub his eyes, as if he was trying to hold his tears back.

"No, it's not what you-"

"I don't want to talk about him, why don't you understand?" Patton's voice grew louder.

"No, Papa, that's not-"

"No, Roman, stop it,"

"I'm not Roman!" Remus shouted angrily and then slapped a hand on his mouth.

Patton sat up so fast, he knocked his bedside lamp to the floor, and a crash resonated in the room.

"What?" Patton asked, his eyes tearing up.

The stairs outside thundered as Remy ran up and into the room, "Is everything ok?" He asked, referring to the crash.

But both Remus and Patton ignored him.

"You're not Roman?" Patton asked and held Remus' face in his hands.

"Not exactly," Remus whispered, ditching the English accent. 

"You're Remus?" Patton asked, his eyes growing bigger as tears began falling down his face.

"I am," he said and sat up straight as Patton took his hands away from Remus' face to cover his mouth in shock.

"Roman and I met at camp, and we decided to switch places. I mean, I thought of it, but he was totally on board. And well, we decided to switch places," Remus looked at Patton's face and teared up a little, whereas Patton was full blown crying. When he didn't say anything, Remus continued, "I'm sorry, but I'd never seen you, and I had been dying to meet my entire life. Roman felt the same way about Dad," he said, his voice grower softer, "I just hoped that one day you'd love me as me. Not as Roman," his voice broke at the end of his sentence, and Patton immediately pulled him into a tight hug.

*Oh darling," he whispered, his breath tickling Remus' neck, "I've loved you your  _ whole  _ life".

Remus nuzzled deeper in his Papa's chest, feeling safer than he had ever felt.

Remy walked into the room and softly petted Remus' head, "There's two of them?"

Patton nodded excitedly, his eyes still red and lashes damp. 

"So, Roman is in America?" Patton asked as he wiped his face with his jumper sleeve.

"Yeah, at my home," Remus said and he pulled away from Patton, "There's something you should know…"

* * *

“Wait, you’re tricking your own dad?” Virgil practically screeched as he stuffed his t-shirts in a small duffel bag. 

“It’s complicated,” Roman countered as he neatly folded his trousers in his suitcase, “Papa won’t ever come if he thinks Dad doesn’t want him to”.

“So you lie?”

“He’s gonna be so pissed when he finds out,” Virgil sighed.

“We’ll handle that later,” Roman said and zipped his suitcase, “Look, it’s gonna be fine, ok? None of this is simple, I know, but we’ll figure it out,” he reassured Virgil, knowing he was panicking increasingly. Virgil gave him a small smile and held his hand.

“I know, I’m just scared,” he said softly and stepped closer to Roman, “And they’re not even  _ my _ parents, I can’t even begin to understand how scared you are. It sucks,” he huffed, sounding almost childlike. The adorable attempt of Virgil being affectionate and empathetic warmed Roman’s heart, and he sat them down on the bed next to their bags.

“It’s gonna be fine,” Roman repeated, “We’re gonna be at the Stanford, Remus will bring the others, my parents are going to fall back in love, and we’re all going to live happily ever after, minus Janus,” he said and interlaced his fingers with Virgil’s nimble ones.

Virgil, blushing and smiling, sputtered out, “Wh-whatever, Princey”.

“Well, isn’t this adorable?” Janus shrill voice broke their 'moment' as they jumped apart from each other, "I never would've thought you'd be - um -  _ canoodling" _

Both boys visibly cringed at the word as Virgil spoke up, "What'd you want, Janus?"

"Oh nothing, just checking if you're all packed for the Stanford. Logan sent me check on you kids"

"We're fine, thanks," Virgil replied coldly.

"I'd watch my tone if I were you, young man," Janus sneered as he rubbed his fingers on the bedroom door, "You have to get used to seeing me everyday. Wouldn't want to get on my bad side, now would you?"

Before either of the boys could reply, Logan called Janus from downstairs, "Get your stuff packed, sweeties. This trip is going to be phenomenal"

The second he left, Virgil and Roman started snickering as they zipped their bags.

_ Phenomenal. _

_ He had no idea. _

* * *

"Ready to go, Papa?" Remus asked as he dragged his suitcase down the stairs, grunting with every step he took.

"Allow me," Remy said from behind him and easily lifted Remus' bag and swung it round his shoulders as Remus stared at his butler's attire.

Remy's usual Oxford shoes were replaced with casual black sneakers, his legs looked like they were painted black as his skinny jeans hugged his thighs and stretched from the knees as he descended from the stairs. When he reached the bottom and turned round put the bags on the floor, Remus noticed the baby pink t-shirt under his thick black leather jacket, with a few necklaces dangling from his neck completing the whole look.

"Can I just say  _ wow _ ?" Remus said as he stood in front of him and looked him up and down.

"Your father insisted I was a friend during this whole trip," Remy smirked as he slid a pair of Ray-Bans on, "I'm just respecting the role, babes."

"Ready, Remus? Don't forget to switch off the-  _ oh my Remy _ ," Patton said as he stopped looking at his checklist to smile at his butler/friend, "You look rather dashing, I must say," to which Remy gave a peace sign and carried the luggage out the house and towards the taxi waiting outside.

"You sure you have everything, love?" Patton asked worriedly.

"Totally, Pops, don't worry about it," he reassured.

Patton still looked anxious, "You're sure your father is expecting me?" 

Remus' stomach rolled, "Yeah, definitely. They're probably packing for the Stanford right now," he lied again.

Neither of the twins had told Logan about Patton's visit, and Roman planned a family stay at the Stanford Hotel before the  _ wedding _ .

Patton, however, was told that Logan knows he's coming after all these years, and deep down, he was happy and excited.

As the three made their way to the airport, Patton tried to think of what to say to his ex-husband after almost 16 years. After all the pain, the sorrow, how can Logan be excited to see him? If his excitement was anything like Patton's, that meant Logan still had feelings for him - is still willing to reconcile. But Patton wasn't a teenager in love anymore. He's not the same boy Logan married, hopelessly in love and desperate for a fairy tail romance. He knows this trip is more of a family reunion and less of a  _ I still love you  _ moment he's looking for. But despite being a grown man, he knows he's still hopelessly in love with a fairytale romance, and he knows the only time he ever felt like that was the few years he spent with Logan. It's why he knows no one else can make him feel the same.

As they boarded the plane to California and Patton got ready to open old wounds, the one voice that had been echoing in his dreams grew louder and louder.

_ 'What if I never left him?' _

* * *

"Remus, why don't you go to our room and unpack, hmm? Your daddy and I will join shortly," Janus said as he gave the hotel room key card to Roman with one hand and massaged Logan's bicep with the other.

They were standing the lobby of the Stanford, making sure they had their luggage accounted for and their hotel room key in their hand. Roman couldn't help but marvel at the grandeur of the hotel as he looked around, his eyes darting around from the glorious chandelier above their heads, to the gorgeous table in the centre of the room, decorated with the prettiest flowers he had ever seen.

"Oh, I don't think Remus should go unaccompanied," Logan said, trying his best to not sound as flustered as he felt.

" _ Darling _ , don't you worry about that," Janus giggled obnoxiously, "The maid can  _ accompany _ him".

"Who?" Emile asked innocently as Roman saw red, "There's no need for a maid, Lo, I'll take Remus upstairs," he said politely before putting a hand on Roman's shoulder and leading him towards the elevators with two of their bags.

"Uh, Emile?" Roman said as they waited for the elevator, "He called you the maid. To hurt your feelings…"

"I know, honey," Emile said, the sunny smile still plastered on his face, "It's not like I'd give the little bitch the satisfaction," he said as the machine in front of them  _ dinged _ .

* * *

"It's not like I'd give the little bitch the satisfaction,"

"Honestly, these Americans!" Patton squealed as he passed the elevators with his son and butler, "We're barely here for 24 hours, and they're already cursing!"

Remy snorted behind him as they reached the reception, "Sir, I've seen you say the 'd' word with my own two eyes".

"That's unrelated, Remy," Patton said and gently tapped the bell on the counter.

"What word? Dick?" Remus said, making Patton gasp unnecessary loud.

_ "Remus!" _

The boy shrugged, "I'm American."

Remy snorted louder at his comment before standing straight when the manager approached them, ready to give them the keys to their booked room.

Patton thanked the man politely and accepted the key card from his hand. However, before leaving, he asked, "Excuse me, would you mind if take a few pictures of those flowers?" He pointed towards the table adorned with flowers in the middle of the lobby, "I'm a baker, and I'd love to have a similar décor for my bakery, if it's alright with you".

"Ofcourse, it's no problem," the manager answered.

Thanking the man again, Patton gave the room key to Remy, "I'll be up in a minute, you two get settled, alright?"

"Sure thing, boss," Remy said before taking Remus and their bags to the elevators.

Patton, meanwhile, pulled his phone out and practically skipped to the small table. The tulips looked especially radiant under the golden light of the chandelier, so he decided to take a few pictures of those. Next came the carnations and the small daises. The baby's-breath were difficult to capture, and Patton almost went all round the table to find the perfect angle. The second he found it and took a photograph, a pair of legs in the background practically ruined his picture. He lifted his head up from the flowers to look at the couple behind the decoration.

"Excuse me, could you please move to the side a little?I'm trying to-" He asked politely when the people didn't move, but the words died in his mouth when he saw a face he hadn't even dreamt of seeing for the past fifteen years.

Actually, that was a lie, he did dream about him. But this was different. He was there. He was there in front of him, his arms wrapped around a stranger who was giggling in his neck in the middle of the hotel lobby. Arms that were once promised to him, Patton remembered. 

But the moment Patton gave him a small smile, he knew something wasn't right. He was expecting him to be here, but he was looking at Patton as if he was the last person he ever thought he'd see. 

Patton forgot all about the table and flowers, about the decoration, about the bakery. He thought, if he tried harder, he might even forget the last fourteen years. 

But he couldn't do the latter. Not when the person wrapped around the once love of his life is holding his hand and leading him away, possibly to the elevators or stairs and looking at him as if he saw a ghost.

And all the while, his eyes never left Patton's face. Never lost the raw shock from seeing him there. 

_ "Logan," _ he thought of saying as the 'couple' ran off with onlyo of them chuckling, but the words never left his mouth.

* * * 

Janus being especially affectionate today was all the information Logan could gather about his fiance's behaviour as Emile took Remus up to their room.

"I can't wait to check out the honeymoon suite, I bet the walls are sound proof," Janus smirked and wiggled his eyebrows.

Logan didn't understand. 

"Why would they be soundproof? What purpose would they fulfill from being soundproof?" 

"I'll tell you tonight, sugar," Janus whispered and nuzzled his face in Logan's neck.

_ 'Oh,'  _ Logan thought,  _ 'Sexual…' _

Before he could think of any other logic, a soft voice interrupted his thoughts telling them to step aside. 

Logan couldn't remember the last time his eyes flew as wide open as they did the second he recognised that voice. His heart sped up as he saw the man in front of him, looking as delicate and beautiful as he did the first time he saw him. The second he smiled a little, Logan's felt time slow down. He knows it's not possible, there are no theories explaining this phenomenon, but everysevery he spent looking at a face he had only dreamt of the past fifteen years felt like a lifetime.

Agonizingly immeasurable. 

_ "Patton," _ his words were desperate to come out his mouth as Janus practically dragged him away, but they didn't come out, and Logan feared he let go of his love once again. 

It was only when he was going up to his room with his rather 'touchy' fiance was when he thought,  _ 'What is he doing here?' _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Words cannot describe how sorry I am for the radio silence.  
> But I promise I'm back and feeling better than ever!!!  
> If you still choose to read this fic, I thank you with all my heart.   
> Hopefully regular updates resume from now on.  
> Hope you enjoy this one :)  
> Free free to leave kudos and comments if y'all liked it :))


	7. Chapter 7

The lobby was full of hotel employees and guests alike bustling around in activity. Their movements were borderline frantic and their voices were loud, coupled with the incessant noise of luggage being dragged and carried around in all sorts of ways. Patton was well aware of the activity around him, the lively environment he was currently standing in, but it all seemed distant. Too distant. Not because he saw Logan in the same room as him after so long, and not because Logan had his arms wrapped around another man. 

It was the expression the once love of his life had on his seemingly stoic face that had Patton’s heart aching: it was as if the lobby of the Stanford would be the last place on this Earth that Logan would expect Patton to see. The pieces then clicked together: Remus fidgeting throughout this trip, the lack of any legitimate proof that Logan knew and wanted Patton to meet him. He really needs to stop being so gullible. 

Before he could scold his son, however, he needed something to eat. Something sweet, preferably alcoholic. He made his way to the small yet cozy looking cafe in the corner of the lobby as quick as he could and immediately beelined towards the counter, “Give me the biggest slice of rum cake you’ve got, please,” he ordered politely yet desperately at the same time. The man on the other side of the counter took pity on his frazzled appearance and put a plate in front of Patton, who didn’t waste a single second before digging into a fairly large piece of the rum cake he ordered. 

The seat next to him on the counter screeched as someone slid it across the floor to occupy it.

“A lemon meringue pie, please,” the person next to him practically drawled and Patton recognised the voice. Logan’s ‘companion’.

_ ‘Just what I needed,’  _ Patton thought sarcastically and stared at his half eaten rum cake, “Could you pack this up, please?” he requested the waiter clearing the bar. As the man took the plate away from his sight, Patton requested the receipt from the cashier, wanting nothing more than to run to his hotel room and sleep for the next few days he was in America.

He quickly handed out his credit card and received the rest of his rum cake in the brown bag the waiter brought from the kitchen door in the far corner of the bar. He had brought the other man’s lemon meringue pie as well, which admittedly looked more delicious than the sad rum cake Patton had. 

Thankfully, the cashier brought his card in a few short seconds, along with a receipt slip for him to sign. He took the pen and signed his name swiftly on the dotted line at the bottom of the small slip and he would’ve sprinted out of the cafe immediately had the man next to him not gasped so audibly. 

A natural worrier, Patton turned round to check on the stranger, who had his eyes fixed on the signed receipt, “You’re Patton Cicero?” the stranger asked, his voice full of pure shock and his fork full of pie frozen in midair.

Patton’s blood ran cold as a million thoughts raced in his head:  _ Does he know who I am? Did Logan tell him? Does he not want me here? _

“Guilty…” Patton chuckled lightly, trying to calm his nerves and not give away the fact that two breakdowns in an hour rendered his brain useless.

The stranger, however, had a very surprising reaction. Instead of lashing out, he turned in his barstool excitedly and practically squealed, “Oh my god, I love your cakes! I contacted your bakery for my wedding cake, but they said you’re out of town and didn't know if you could take any orders!,” he clapped his hands delightedly before holding out his right one in greeting, “This is fate! I’m Janus Williams.”

Patton shook his hand politely and hopelessly tried to stop the words ‘ _ my wedding’  _ ringing in his head. ‘My’ wedding meant Logan’s wedding, the very idea leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.

“Yes, well, I’m sure I can manage something,” Patton said as he grabbed his packed cake from the counter, “It was great meeting you”.

“Same here,” Janus called from behind him as Patton left waving Janus goodbye.

* * *

“Remus?! Remus Warren, you come here this instant!” Patton whispered shouted in the carpeted corridor, aware of the other residents behind the white doors he stormed past but equally angry to not care. 

He stopped in front of his room, the number 218 glistening in the warm yellow light that illuminated the entire corridor. He knocked on the door and called for Remus, the anger in his voice surprising his own ears. 

The door in front of him opened after about 30 seconds, and the door behind him followed suit. Patton gasped as two identical boys stood at either side of him, and suddenly all fight left his body as he registered the vision he held. 

“My boys…” he whispered and held both his sons in his arms, “I never I’d see you together, in the same room”. Remus and Roman smiled knowingly at each other as both their heads were held close to Patton’s chest.

Roman was the first to break the hug to look at his father’s face, “I missed you, Papa,” he said before Patton grabbed him again in a bone-crushing hug.

“I missed you too, my little Prince,” Patton said sweetly, “My boy, all alone in this country…”

“Hey,” Remus interjected playfully, “I was alone in London too!” which earned him an eye roll from Roman and a kiss on the forehead from Patton, “Besides, he had Dad”.

The mention of Logan sent a new wave of anger and frustration inside Patton, who immediately let go of both the boys, “Funny you should mention him, actually. I can’t believe you two lied to me-”

The door on his right opened again and revealed a frazzled looking Emile who put his arms on Roman’s shoulders, “Hi, sorry to disturb, but maybe we can take this inside?” He said politely and led inside the room.

Emile looked at Patton as he entered their room, “Hi, it’s been a long time but I’m-”

“Emile! Oh my days, I missed you!” Patton squealed excitedly and hugged Emile, who reciprocated the embrace with similar vigour.

The twins settled on the comfortable looking sofa set in the far corner, undoubtedly sensing the storm Patton would bring now that everything was out in the open. Really, they should’ve thought this all the way through. 

“Boys, I cannot believe the stunt you’ve pulled,” Patton said while he ran his fingers through his hair and stormed towards the sofas, “Your father has no idea I'm here, right? You lied to both us!"

"Papa, we're sorry, but hear us out," Remus said, "Dad's getting married…"

"To a Gorgon, Papa, he's awful!" Roman finished.

"Boys, what do you expect me to do?" Patton sighed frustratingly and sat on the sofa opposite to the twins, "You can't think I can convince him to marry me, he's clearly moved on!"

"But Papa-"

"No Remus, listen to me, both of you," Patton said sternly, "There is a reason we separated when we did, and while it wasn't the best decision to keep you two apart, we did it because we thought it was for the best. Obviously, I can't separate you two now, you've clearly gotten very close, but that doesn't mean everything else is back like it was before. Who your father chooses to spend his life with is not my concern. Not anymore," he sighed at the end and held his face in his hands, terribly exhausted.

"He's right, you know," a voice broke into the deafening silence that fell over the room for about five seconds. 

Patton looked up to see another teenage boy leaning against the frame of the bathroom door.

"Thank you for your confidence," Patton smiled, "Who even are you, kiddo?"

“Virgil,” he said cooly, “Em’s nephew”.

“Nice to meet you, dear,” Patton said warmly.

“Likewise,” Virgil said as he walked to the sofa and sat next to Remus, “Missed you, punk”.

“You too, jackass,” Remus replied and warmed an arm round Virgil’s shoulder.

“Now, we’re going to have a chat with your father and then I’ll be exchanging you two and heading home to London. Understood?” Patton said, sounding stern again. The twins nodded and looked solemn as ever. All this work, and so far, there was barely any progress. Something had to work, otherwise, there was no point to this entire adventure. Both the boys knew that they won’t be having Janus as a step-parent or whatever by the time they were through with him. There was no way either of them would let that happen, which is why the ‘chat’ with Logan had to perfectly.

“I think I saw him going to the pool downstairs, I’ll go check,” Remus said and hastily made his way out of the room. 

“Ok good, at least we know where he is-  _ dear lord Remy, what on earth are you doing? _ ,” Patton practically shrieked as he saw Remy standing in the middle of the small living room, wearing nothing but a pair of the shortest speedos and a red towel hanging from his shoulder.

He pushed his aviators to his hair and smiled, “Just going for a dip in the pool sir, do you mind?”

Patton regained his composure and cleared his throat, trying his best to have his gaze fixed on Remy’s head, “No no, that’s quite alright.”

“Right, I shall be-” Remy said before abruptly stopping, his eyes fixed on Emile, who had just stepped away from tidying the wardrobes, “Hello there,” he said in a sultry tone.

Emile, who was less subtle, giggled into his hand before extending it as a greeting, “Hi, I’m Emile, Remus’ nanny”.

“Remington Garroway, Roman’s butler,” Remy said and instead of shaking Emile’s outstretched hand, he held it tenderly and turned it in his hand before leaning down and lightly pecking the top, his eyes never breaking contact with Emile’s, “Care to join me for a lovely afternoon by the pool?”

Had Remy not wearing ridiculously tight swimwear, he would have almost passed as a gentleman courting his lover.

The moment was broken by Patton getting up and clapping his hands together, possibly to remind them that there were others present in the room, “Okay! Seems like everyone’s going to the pool.”

* * *

The moment Remus stepped out of the room, he saw Logan walking towards their room door opposite to the one Remus just came out of, looking more frazzled than Remus had ever seen him. Still, seeing his father after so long made his heart clench.

“Remus1 I’m so glad I found you,” Logan said frantically, “I need your objective opinion on my current appearance. Do I look presentable? Am I decent enough?”

Inn all their years together, Logan had never asked Remus, or anyone, what they thought he looked like, whether he looked ok or not. Remus knew this effort was for Patton, and the thought made him smile victoriously. 

“Oh Dad, you look great!” Remus exclaimed, “That blue on black combo is really working for you, mmhmm”.

“Oh that’s a relief,” Logan smiled, “I was worried that-”

“You know what, Dad?” Remus interrupted loudly, not wanting to waste a second more, “You should go down by the pool! Great weather, great people, you’ll enjoy yourself!”

“Hmmm,” Logan hummed, “I suppose you’re right, good idea, Remus,”

Remus didn’t realise how much he missed hearing his Dad say his name until that moment and couldn't help but give him a tight hug.

“I love you, Dad,” he mumbled against his black polo shirt.

“I love you too, Remus,” Logan chuckled and ruffled his hair affectionately before pulling back and smiling widely.

“So, to the pool then?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to leave kudos and comments if y'all liked it :)


	8. Chapter 8

“Remus, you were right, it’s lovely outside,” Logan said as they reached the poolside. The area was full of families and children playing around and relaxing, and Logan felt like this was exactly where he needed to be. 

Especially after today.

"Hope you brought your trunks, dad," Remus said as he found two spare lounge chairs and laid down on one of them.

"Oh no, I have no intention of going swimming right now, I'll just relax and-"

The sentence was punched from his stomach as he looked across the pool and saw what he could only describe as a  _ vision _ .

That's what Patton was. A vision.

His sandy brown curls looked like they were dipped in gold as he stepped into the sunlight and smiled at the people at the poolside. 

'Always smiling,' Logan thought, and before he could think otherwise, he found his feet leading him in Patton's direction, who still was unaware of the way Logan was staring at him.

All his life, Logan let himself be led by his head and not his heart, but today was different. He could feel his heartstrings tugging towards Patton and didn't question it. 

Logan would soon find out why he preferred to be led by his head because three seconds later, his heart led him to twist his ankle at a horrible angle, bump into a waiter walking past and slip into the pool, successfully creating a scene.

So much for making an impression.

Catching his breath, he pushed himself up from the water and hauled himself out of the cursed pool, accepted a towel and a mischievous snicker from his devious son.

"Are you alright?" 

The words rang in Logan's ears like the sweetest windchimes and resonated in his head like a wistful memory.

He looked up from his wet, floppy hair and saw Patton desperately trying to hide his smile and still look worried at the same time. 

God, he missed this man.

"I'm fine, Patton, I'm- Yes- Um-" Logan stuttered over his words, "Wow… It's so good to see you…"

"Likewise," Patton chuckled, “I shrill can’t believe the kids managed this.”

Logan frowned, “Kids?”

Just then Roman skipped over to his brother’s side and walked up to their parents, “Why on earth is Dad soaking wet?” he whispered to Remus discreetly.

“ _ Kids _ Logan,” Patton laughed and pulled the teenagers under his arms, “These two devils tricked us, both of us, to have this little family reunion.”

Logan’s heart ached at the word ‘family’ as he looked at Roman wearing a shirt he was so used to seeing on his much more mischievous son. Suddenly, the boy who had spent the past few weeks seemed so different, and so precious.

“I’ve had Roman with me all this time,” Logan said, his voice breaking, “I didn’t even know…"

"Hello, Dad," Roman smiled, his accent thick and loud. 

"Hello, my boy," Logan says as he pulls his son towards him and hugs him tight against his chest. 

He looks down at Roman, his face aching with his beaming smile, "I should've known something was out of the ordinary. You're _never_ this clean!" 

"I could be clean if I want to," Remus huffed at Logan's side, who pulled him under his arm as Patton had.

"Yes well, you  _ don't _ want to," Logan laughed and ruffled his hair, too happy to be bothered by his messy son.

Remus hugged Logan tight before pulling away and looking at him earnestly, "Papa is amazing, Dad. I love him so much."

Logan's smile faltered a little before he looked back at Patton, "Papa, huh? You'd always been fond of that word. That's what they call you?"

Patton turned his head to the ground and gave his sneakers a sad smile, "Yes… You left before the boys could even talk. How could you know?"

There was no bite in his ex-husband's words, but Logan still felt stung. 

"Patton I-"

_ "There you are!" _

"Oh dear God, no," Roman muttered as all four of them turned their heads to the doors opening to the pool, where Janus was sashaying from in their direction.

"I've been looking all over for you, sweetheart," Janus said before stopping in his tracks and scanning Logan's state, "Logie, why are you all wet? Remus, fetch your father some towels, don't just stand there!" he gestured to Roman.

"Hey, Jan? I'm not Remus," Roman said.

Janus did a double-take between the two teenagers, then between Patton and Logan before letting out a laugh that sounded more like a gasp.

“Any explanation?”

Logan rubbed the back of his neck, “I never mentioned that Remus was a twin, did I?”

“You most certainly did not,” Janus said and gave the most forced smile anyone had seen. 

“Well, after we got married, we adopted a pair of twin boys and-”

“ _ You _ were married to  _ him _ ?” Janus practically screamed, “Patton Cicero?!”

“Guilty, again,” Patton giggled, genuinely sounding guilty. 

The confusion on all three adults was comical, especially when it passed back to Logan, who looked at Janus incredulously.

“You know who this is?” 

“Of course I do, dear,” Janus replied, still processing the truckload of surprises, “He’s only one of the most famous wedding caterers at the moment.”

“Oh it’s really nothing more than a small shop back in London,” Patton said modestly. 

“You always were the most humble person I’ve ever met,” Logan said fondly. 

The twins looked to Janus for his reaction and were not disappointed. The man was absolutely red in the face and, had he been a cartoon, his ears would’ve whistled and steamed by now. 

“My my, isn’t this just  _ wonderful _ ?” Janus sneered.

“I freakin’ know, right?!” Remus shouted louder than necessary, “I’m so glad you think so Janey because me and Roman have planned a  _ wonderful _ dinner for you,” he said.

“Roman and I, dear,” Logan corrected, “And also, we don’t even know if your father is free tonight, he must be tired.”

“No no, I could eat,” Patton smiled.

“Well I’m not free,” Janus interjected, “So I suppose we’d have to get a rain check on the-”

“Not to worry, Janus, this is a family dinner,” Roman said and waved his hands in the most pretentious way possible, “Just our parents and their incredibly handsome son and Remus.”

Apparently, that was the final nail in the coffin and Janus huffed in Logan’s face before storming off from the pool area and towards the hotel lobby entrance.

Logan turned to Roman, “Dear, you can’t just-”   
“YOU need to dress up if you’re going to be with your man tonight,” Remus said and before Logan could reprimand his son, he was being pulled away by Remus who promised him an afternoon of  _ one of those fancy makeovers _ .

Roman hooked his arm around Patton’s and walked them in the direction of their room.

“You too, Papa. Virgil and I are going to make you look absolutely stunning for tonight.”

Patton chuckled, “I hardly think Virgil would be interested in such an activity.”

“Please,” Roman laughed, “If there’s anyone more excited about all this than Remus and I, it’s my boyfriend.”

Patton stopped in the middle of the bustling hotel lobby to grab his fifteen-year-old son in astonishment, “I’m sorry, your  _ what?! _ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing I can say will ever truly tell you guys how sorry I am. These past few months have been so stressful and I could literally feel my mental health deteriorating - nothing inspired me anymore to write. Hopefully, after I put this up, I can write and post more and more and then finally finish it.  
> To everyone who has stuck with this messy story, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.  
> Enjoy :)


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